


Quid Pro Quo

by InkHero



Series: What Comes After Series [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Non-Canonical Character Death, Other, Pre-Canon, Pre-Etheria Hordak, an egregious amount of clone murder, tw: cult-related abuse - Freeform, tw: drug mention in ch. 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:33:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 51,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26065801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkHero/pseuds/InkHero
Summary: The man thought for a moment. “It’ll be… Quid pro quo.”Hordak’s head cocked to the side. “Quid pro quo…?” He repeated, unsure of its definition.“Yep. It means I've done something for you. Now, you have to you do something for me.”
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Hordak & Catra
Series: What Comes After Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910542
Comments: 80
Kudos: 114





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you write throwaway lines that are way too interesting to leave alone. Enjoy! follow me at @ink_her0 on twitter if you wanna follow the struggle tweets I make about writing this.

“Focus your movements. How you do that depends on your weapon, but the method is always the same. You want to make them have to contemplate how to strike you, and answer that with their failure. Each failure to hit takes more energy. It wears them down, while you remain in control. Waiting.”

In the late afternoon, the savanna of the Crimson Waste was alive, its red grass flowing with a shimmer as the wind blew gently through it. A cloud of black birds materialized from the equally black bark of the sparse trees, taking off into the blue skies above. The land was spacious, without threat of harm coming to anything besides the few moles that hopped in and out of their holes.

It was here that Hordak took Catra for her desired lessons.

Hordak was a different creature than when she’d first met him properly. He’d lost the aura of doom and fear, carrying himself with far more humility. His quiet presence was comforting, even. Perhaps it was just Catra’s own bias, but Hordak had become someone anyone could trust with secrets. When she and Adora didn’t see eye-to-eye, he was often the one she’d come to for advice.

Not that she was with him now for that reason. Everything was fine between her and Adora. Or, rather, relatively fine; Adora was currently stuck alone with babysitting duties. Catra loved her, but she wasn’t about to take care of some screaming fishboy that cussed like a sailor. Luckily for her, Hordak needed a helper that day, and Catra managed to convince him to show her more of his technique before starting the task. She expected a bit of passive-aggressive banter when she got home.

Hordak slid his foot forward, the blade whistling as he struck air. Just as quickly, he pulled it back, turning the sword flat in a single, fluid motion. “You’ll want to be careful using these techniques, Catra… They are effective,” He warned. “ _Very_ effective. I would rather you not be put into a position to kill in this manner. But you won’t always have guns, or tanks, or ships. You have to be prepared to use what you can to survive, and do what you must to live.”

This was a massive improvement, in Catra’s opinion. When he attended their Force training, he was a silent shadow with glowing, red eyes. The sudden shift in methods was easy to understand; he didn’t want to be that person anymore. Therefore, he wasn’t.

He got something out of this interaction as well. Like this, he could replace that person in Catra’s mind with the one he was now. She was grateful for it, too. She’d read what she could, picked up what she could… But she’d never learned some of the things Hordak had taught her.

“Hey… How come you know all of this stuff?” Catra asked, leaning on her bow staff. “Like, yeah, obviously, you used to do this for a living… But the clones know how to use guns. That’s it. You can use pretty much any weapon- guns, knives, spears, axes- giant swords.” She glanced pointedly at the weapon Hordak was using.

She received a scoff for her inquiries. The bitter tone to it wasn’t lost to her.

“Lots of practice,” Hordak answered simply, offering a quirk of his lips. Sensing that the lesson was now over, he also adopted a more lax position.

“You’ve been talking to King Micah, haven’t you?” He accused.

Catra shrugged nonchalantly. “We talked about it at your wedding. He said you used to be a demon with that,” She explained. “I never saw that side of you. I guess I’m just curious.”

He sighed, sheathing the sword. “You certainly did, when you lied to me about Entrapta’s whereabouts… Curiosity kills the cat, you know.”

“Is that a threat?” She smirked at the challenge. “Come on, Hordak. Micah described you like you were some sort of badass!! That’s not the Hordak I saw.”

“The answers to your questions aren’t pleasant.”

“Well, I’m not Adora. I’m not afraid of the bad things you did. I wanna know.”

Hordak adopted a lopsided sneer, which he deployed halfheartedly. “If you are so _deeply_ curious, I was raised to invade planets. To blend in and prepare for The Horde to take over. To find weaknesses, flaws… cracks, I suppose. It’s what I did to the Fright Zone; posed as a strange, dark being that had the answer to a stranger, darker plague. It was given to me practically on a silver platter.”

Catra nodded slowly with understanding. “And invading made you really good at using Morning Stars and daggers?” She pressed, ears twitching.

He was growing weary of the interrogation, clearly. He clicked his tongue, one claw coming to a rest on the blade at his hip as his head tilted to the sky. “It was a useful skill to possess. There were many things trying to kill me,” He said, the finality of it evident in his tone.

Realizing then where these questions were going, he pressed on. “Catra, I promise you I am not the ‘demon’ King Micah has painted me as. Not anymore. I never was; I always have been weaker than my Brothers, and I had to learn to work around that. The rest was pure theatre.”

She smiled. “He theorized that much about you.”

That seemed to surprise Hordak. “I see… Then he would be correct. It’s not that I’m- what was it? A ‘badass’,” He repeated, unable to hide his amusement well. “I simply do not engage in that way unless I am sure I can win.”

Catra’s grin grew more mischievous as she leaned in. “Truth be told… I still think you used to have a lot more bite to your bark. You just don’t wanna talk about it because you don’t like it anymore. But I still think it’s interesting.”

“You’re morbid that way… I find no pleasure in such acts anymore. The art is precious, but using against any creature now leaves me feeling sick.” Hordak cringed; both due to the thought of death, and the burning sun overhead. The heat of the Crimson Wastes bore heavily on his sensitive skin.

In that moment, it became far too much to ignore. He left Catra’s side to retrieve his cloak from the shade of a nearby tree. When it was around his shoulders, he huffed out a fond laugh. “… I make Entrapta kill the spiders,” He added with a quirk of his lips.

At the mention of his wife, Catra’s tail swished behind her. “This thing we’re doing today, with Mothership Island. You said you needed me for it, right?” She asked cautiously.

“I said I needed _someone_ that had been chipped. _You_ were the one who volunteered to come with me.”

“Whatever. The point I’m getting at is that you’re _not_ with Entrapta, whom you have literally never been spotted without for the last… Year and ten months?” Catra crossed her arms, eyeing him suspiciously. “Seems kinda fishy, don’t you think? Can I ask about that, too?”

Hordak stiffened noticeably. “She’s… ill. I didn’t want to put strain on her with this matter,” He explained curtly, grabbing his toolbag off the ground with a slightly aggressive yank. “I need someone that was connected to the Hivemind, anyways. Otherwise, I would ask Adora, as _she_ doesn’t ask prying questions.”

With a roll of her eyes, Catra hurried to grab her things. “She’s your favorite, I know. You don’t have to rub it in,” She grumbled, envy flaring up like a fever in her chest.

“I don’t have favorites, Catra. You know that,” He refuted from a frown. “I love you and Adora as one loves their wards. And I am fond of your presences for different reasons.” He paused in his journey to the ship, awaiting her to catch up to him.

“I am fond of your presence because you keep me sharp. Which is exactly what I need for what we are going to do,” He added as they, together, approached Darla. The ship was sitting in idle, its docking bay open and ready.

The cabin was far cozier than when Catra had first entered it. Entrapta had taken lengths to making the space resemble a living space, complete with pink and purple rugs and posters of cute dogs.

Catra felt the urge to roll her eyes again, but managed to refrain. “You explained it in the worst way possible. Something about the Hivemind being torn? It’s hard to listen to you drone when you speak nerd.”

Hordak took his seat at the pilot’s station, adjusting the cushion meant to support his back. “Broken. It’s broken,” He corrected for what must have been the third time. “In the _very_ simplest of terms, for it to work, there must to be a root to all of it- a calibrator, if you will.” As he spoke, he began to move his claws over the ship’s controls with practiced ease. Darla was familiar now to him, as well; he spent countless hours manipulating its insides, improving its design to something capable of faster speeds and farther distances.

He brought the ship to a hover, the shift from the ground almost unnoticeable. Once they were stable and elevating away from the Crimson Wastes, he continued. “Horde Prime accessed the function of that root through the captain’s chair… His throne. He kept the clones calm, emotionless, and drone-like. Under his manipulation, they thought of him as God, in every essence. And… In his absence, many of them are struggling to understand who they are without him. Kadroh has asked me to take Prime’s place as the calibrator, in order to sever that tie completely.”

The admittance made Catra’s jaw drop. “And you agreed to that!? You’re just as messed up by that place as me!! Is that even safe?!” She cried.

“…Relatively,” He answered, his uncertainty exposed with the careful choice of words. “But it is based on what we clones understand about Prime. Much of it could be lies. No one besides him has ever sat in that chair… We are aware that it is possible to connect to the Hivemind, but it will require someone that is capable of accessing it, but is not actually a part of it.”

Hordak’s expression fell slightly, reflected to Catra by the glass of the port window. “I am the one who is best suited for this,” He asserted.

Catra frowned deeply. Something about it seemed wrong. Hordak was really kind for taking on that responsibility, but the fact he was still being so vague told her that he still wasn’t being completely honest with her.

She took a seat at the captain’s chair, resting her elbows on her knees as she watched him pilot the ship towards Bright Moon. “And what is it you have to do, huh?” She demanded to know.

“Well… My mind will have to be perfectly clear in order for me to reset the Hivemind. I have to trick the machine into believing I’m Prime, essentially. Once it allows me access, I will remove the drone behavior.”

“And… If it rejects you?”

“…It fries my brain like an egg.”

“RIGHT. NO. BRING THE SHIP DOWN.” The catgirl leapt from her spot with her typical grace. Hordak was prone to doing stupid things, but this wasn’t just stupid. She wasn’t going to let this asshole get himself killed because he didn’t understand how much his life was worth.

People cared about him, now.

Hordak stood just as quickly, setting the ship to autopilot as he blocked her from interfering. “Catra, I am aware that the risk seems concerning. I am not exactly keen on doing this for _many_ reasons, especially alone. That is why I am bringing someone else that fits the criteria to help me,” He argued.

She paused, straightening her back from its hunched pose. “Me? But… I can’t be the root, either. I was disconnected, wasn't I?”

“You were connected long enough that you still possess a trace connection to the Hivemind. You wouldn’t feel it now, but as we approach the center of the ship, it will feel like a strange itching in the back of your head. You’ll probably be able to navigate the ship easily without knowing how or why. Memories and pieces left when you were… Among us…” Hordak explained, voice trailing off.

Catra shuddered, her hand wandering to where that chip had been. There hadn’t even been a scar.

Yet, as they approached Mothership Island, she felt it. Only for just a microsecond. If Hordak hadn’t told her what to expect, she would have wrote it off as a twitch.

“…What do you feel, when you get close to the ship?” Catra asked, her voice quiet to her ears.

Hordak didn’t initially respond. He watched Mothership Island, covered in colorful banners and paint, grow larger as they grew closer.

“… Cold.”

***

It was easy to tell Kadroh apart from his Brothers. Where the others had stuck to their uniforms, he had taken to dressing as brightly colored as possible, as if to intentionally set himself apart. Convenient for his close friends and family, honestly. Today, he’d managed to find a ridiculous shirt emblazoned with flowers and a straw hat.

“Brother! Welcome to Mothership Island!” Kadroh greeted. He seemed to share Catra’s sentiments about the situation, but was doing his best to hide it. His smile twitched with barely restrained anxiety.

“We’ve been expecting you and Entrapta for weeks, now! Ah… Where is she? Really, I would feel far more comfortable if she were here, Brother, she’s much more capable of maintaining these-“

“She is ill, as I have stated before. Don’t make me state it again,” Hordak growled. He brushed past him, clicking his tongue as he entered the docking bay of the floating ship. “You both have so little faith in me… I don’t need her to fix this. I, above anyone else, would know of Prime’s chair.”

Catra perked up, following close behind as Kadroh took up the rear. “What makes you say that?” She pried with wide, achromatic eyes.

Hordak let out a deep breath, steadily coming to a stop.

“…Because I was going to sit in that chair, Catra. I was the next in line.” He turned to her, the claw wrapped around the strap of his bag flexing. His red eyes held truth, but not all of it. “Before I was cast out, I was chosen to be Prime’s successor. It’s why I’m so good at fighting, and why I am the most likely to survive the connection to that chair if I am plugged into it. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Catra glared, determination set in her brow. “Maybe.”

The air had grown tense. Kadroh bowed his head, clearing his throat. “This is a great gift you’re giving to us. We will embrace the element of freedom full-force with your help, Brother!!” He exclaimed.

At that, Hordak nodded, offering him a calmer demeanor for his attempts to lighten the mood. “Would you mind leading us, then? We may catch up on the goings-on along the way. You can tell me all about the, strangely, _multitude_ of people you seem to be hanging out with lately.”

Kadroh blushed and hurried ahead to the front of pack. “Ahah, you know!! I’m quite popular!! Y-You did promote me to Captain and made me the representative of our Brothers. I-I meet a lot of people that way!” He stammered out quickly.

Hordak looked to Catra once again, but turned to follow Kadroh without comment.

Catra was irritated by Hordak’s cageyness. She always had been. He shared everything with Entrapta; she would easily assume whatever Hordak was willing to tell her was already said to his wife. That, still, wasn’t much. He spoke in broad strokes, like he wrote his life in the form of a history text. What had he seen when he was invading those planets? What had he witnessed that made him the cruel, heartless monster that was stranded on Etheria?

Entrapta wouldn’t want to ask. She loved him too much to care about who he was before. She, after all, fell in love with him after.

But there were echoes of it; whether he wanted to admit it or not, the more he expressed himself, the more they rang out. At the very least, something else was bothering him now. Not just what they were tasked with doing.

She followed them silently as the Brothers spoke of life on the ship, hearing very little of it as her vision tunneled on Hordak. 

The itching grew sharp as they approached the control station. This was a room none of the clones dared to enter. In fact, they avoided the entire floor like it was haunted. It was, in a way; it was for Catra. Some awful memories were in these spaces.

But there was one that was incredible, and it was her anchor as they entered.

Her job was simple; they would know Hordak did his task when the itching feeling Catra was experiencing was gone. Then, she and Kadroh would remove the wires before the ship activated its emergency defenses against Hordak.

Hordak took a deep breath as he sat in the chair, eyes closed as he stretched out his arms. “Alright. Kadroh, if you wouldn’t mind…” His sudden shift to confidence was clearly out of spite. Either that, or a desire to set his siblings at ease.

He had the gall to cross his legs, humming amusedly as one eye peeked open. “Not my preferred type of throne… Too brutalist,” He commented dryly. “And no drink holder. The man lived like a Neanderthal, honestly.”

Kadroh went to work plugging the bright green cords into Hordak’s body- his arm ports, his neck, and even the sides. Neither Kadroh nor Catra reacted to what had probably been jokes, only exchanging nervous glances.

Hordak glared pointedly at the both of them. “It’s fine. For the love of Etheria, I was the last clone Prime inhabited!! The margin of error is so slim, I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all to either of you.”

His jaw clenched as he sat more upright. “I wish to do this for my Brothers,” He asserted yet again. “There are many that are struggling to adapt. They cannot escape what Prime has done to their minds. When I reset them, they will be blank pieces of paper that they will draw on themselves. Like you, Kadroh, except… They won’t lose their connection to each other. I still believe that is precious.”

His gaze leveled at his adoptive daughter. “Catra… If our previous conversation is what’s causing you so much grief, let me be completely honest. I cannot tell you much because I don’t _remember_ much. My mind has been wiped more times than I can count. I have tried to find them for many years, but without tangible proof they happened… I can’t.”

Catra nodded. Surprisingly, it did make her feel better. She felt like he wasn’t lying to her, then. Not remembering was an entirely different story than lying. After all, she barely remembered being under the Horde’s control. The complete dominance over the mind was so overwhelming… She was happy her brain had spared her the stress of it all.

Red eyes softened, a knowing glint in them as Hordak sighed. “I will tell you what I experienced under the Horde when you are ready to hear them… When there is enough distance between what the Horde was and what I am now.”

At that, Kadroh connected the final cord. Unlike Prime, the cords rendered Hordak nearly prone in the chair, arms turned with his palms facing up.

It felt strange to see him so vulnerable.

Kadroh opened the access to the Hivemind’s neurosystem. It appeared, literally, like a tree; a billion, white dots connected to each other, all feeding downwards to an empty slot. With tiny clicks of a floating keyboard, he brought Hordak into the Hivemind once more.

“This was forbidden to even _see_ , before… I feel honored to witness it,” Kadroh stated, more to ease the tense silence before it grew again. “How do you feel, Brother?”

Hordak breathed through his nose, head tilting slightly as color and light filled his vision. In a sudden jolt, his back arched from the chair. He choked out a gasp, eyes squeezing closed as he tried to maintain his breathing. “It stings… Ha… I would have hated this,” He hissed, red teeth flashing as he bared them and the pain.

Behind him, Kadroh and Catra could see that Hordak was now marked by a red dot, the line connecting him to the Hivemind blinking. Meanwhile, Hordak struggled to gain control of the mental map presented to him. It was difficult to even make sense of it; however, every piece began to fall neatly into place as he focused and pinpointed what he wanted to see and do.

Hordak let out a small gasp of awe. “I… I can see it,” He breathed. “Like stars in the sky…”

Catra recoiled from him on instinct, her tail fluffing up as the itching began to manifest as a pull. As she fought the desire to run, she quickly moved closer to Hordak’s side. She needed to be ready to pull the cords once the sensation stopped. If Adora were there, she wouldn’t worry about how the room or Hordak made her feel. She would do what was needed to get done.

“I’m going to… Override… Prime’s signature, now,” Hordak announced, a harsh wince betraying the pain he was in. For him, it felt like bleach was slowly seeping into his skin, sending prickling fire into the joints of his arms and his ribs. Talking in this state was clearly an effort; his voice was lethargic, speaking in careful, slow patterns.

Hordak suddenly seized again, hands moving to grip the arms of the chair as he cried out. Catra reflexively moved to grab a cord, squeaking under her breath as she did so and was shocked. “What’s happening to him!?” She asked in a fearful tone, her heart pounding in her chest as she helped Hordak remain upright.

A claw feebly curled around her arm, holding it with a feather-light grip. “I’m alright, Catra… Just not the best at this,” He reassured, forcing a smile to his face.

She couldn’t give it back. Not when he was writhing in pain, hissing with every thought he had.

“Kadroh-?”

“Hold on, hold on…” Kadroh was typing away furiously, observing the dot as it was pulled by its string to the root. Like passing through a cellular wall, it popped into place, bathing the once green screen in a brilliant red.

Where, normally, this would be a sign of error, Kadroh cheered. “Yes!! Hordak is now the one in control of the Hivemind!!!” He cried.

Hordak’s smile spread as he opened his eyes again, nodding as the pain faded.

With the confirmation, Kadroh laughed with relief. He analyzed the data, humming. “It… It seems the neurosystem accepted him without any concerns at all. It didn’t even bother to check if he was Prime or not,” He explained, frowning with slight disappointment. “He has complete access to it, now.”

The itching stopped with such an abruptness, Catra felt its absence. It was that easy…?

Well, now she felt a little silly for assuming the worst. She was too used to things going horribly wrong when it came to machines and technology.

Kadroh smiled softly as he monitored Hordak’s vitals. “To think you had the glory of witnessing such an esteemed position. Horde Prime’s right hand man… His heir, even,” Kadroh cooed with idolizing wonder.

Catra looked to Hordak for his answer to Kadroh, but he had none. Instead, she saw him staring downward- more into space than anything else.

His eyes were flashing strangely- red for a few seconds, then green, then red again. Despite this, he seemed cognitively aware, if not a bit… Distant.

“…Who are you…?” He whispered. So lowly, only Catra heard it. It was a question he asked genuinely, but not to her. “Why… are you here…?”

“Entrapta’s going to be fascinated by this technology!! Now that it’s safe to use, I’m sure you’ll both have fun experimenting with it,” Kadroh continued on, unaware of Hordak’s mumbling.

At that, Hordak snapped back to reality, his body growing rigid. “We… We won’t be able to do that. We’ll be busy with separate matters,” He responded curtly.

Wait a minute. “Hey… That sounds like you and Entrapta are _fighting_.” Catra furrowed her brow, searching his face for anything truthful. “What’s going on? You said she was _sick_ -!!”

“She will be sick for a while!!” Hordak raised his voice with his outburst, eyes widening as he hissed. His head moved to Kadroh before stopping its momentum, turning back to her with growing frustrations. “Catra, I don’t want to talk about this right now!!”

“You don’t wanna talk about it at all!!!”

“ _Catra,_ please, unplug me, we can-!”

Suddenly, a burst of green electricity enveloped each cord in a sudden lightning storm of chaos. Hordak convulsed as he was overtaken by it, crying out a choked form of Catra’s name as he feebly tried to shove her away.

"Y-You, get away, don't touch me-!!"

In a single rush of instinct, Catra ripped a cord from his arm, intending to grab the rest. However, touching the live cable proved disastrous; the electricity traveled through her, rendering her body rigid as she howled out in agony.

Her eyes flashed red, then green, then red again before Catra dropped unconscious into Hordak’s lap.

Similarly, Hordak’s body slumped backward, arms hanging limply off the armrests of the throne. His eyes flashed wildly, unseeing as they looked up to the ceiling.

“...C-Catra? Brother?” Kadroh whimpered. It had happened so quickly, he barely had time to process it. He let out another pained wince, looking from the control panel to the throne. Had he done that? No, he couldn’t have…

He turned back to the control panel, confused by what he saw. That wasn’t the firewall Horde Prime had installed. Nothing had visibly changed when viewing the Hivemind, either. What happened? Had Hordak triggered something by accident?

First, Kadroh checked Hordak’s vitals. To his utmost surprise and elation, they were perfectly normal. His heartbeat had elevated, slightly, but he was very much alive.

Still… Kadroh rose from his seat and hurried to Catra. Understanding began to settle in his mind as he saw what she was clutching with an iron grip. When he pushed back one of her eyelids, he was despaired to find her eyes were still opaque. They flickered out of sync with Hordak, flashing red when he flashed green and vice versa.

At least Kadroh could take comfort in knowing Catra was alive; her chest moved with her breathing. They weren’t dead- just locked in a deep sleep.

Whatever happened to Hordak happened to her, as well.

Kadroh let out a long, suffering whine. “Oh, dear…”

***

Catra came into consciousness with a force equal to the explosion she’d just been a part of. In her mind, the moment the electricity touched her skin was the moment she was kicked to the ground by an unseen assailant.

She was still on the Horde ship- that was unmistakable. She could see, blearily, the shadowy mass of clones around her; however, this wasn’t a room she was familiar with. For one, it was painted red instead of white. There was no furniture in her immediate area to mark it as a dining room or living space. It felt claustrophobic, with so many looming gazes. 

Catra groaned as everything began to rush back to her, surprised to find her voice so deep. What happened? When did she get here?

She attempted to take in more of her surroundings, lifting her upper half off the ground. Her mouth screwed into a grimace as she felt her clothes grow soaked with her shifting body. Had she been thrown in a puddle-?

Blood. The room wasn’t red. It was covered in blood. It was _blood_.

Catra wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. She suddenly couldn’t find her voice at all, like it was being silenced with icy hands over her mouth.

A clone dropped to the ground before her with a thud, a spear impaled through his throat and abdomen. From the two wounds, dark, brilliant red blood gushed in thick spurts.

Across from her, just a few paces away, two clones were engaged in vicious combat. Every movement was intended to kill, the clones going for vital organs with each strike.

Panic welled in Catra’s throat, hot and suffocating. Where was she? Where was Hordak!?

“Hordak…?” She called, looking around into the crowd for a familiar face. They all were, she realized with a harsh swallow. “Hordak?”

She could hear her voice, but her audience didn’t. That much was clear. They simply stared at her, emotionless and cold.

Waiting.

But one clone heard her. The same clone that had maintained control of the fight with sharp, controlled movements. His ears had twitched at the sound of Catra’s voice. As if he’d decided then to stop playing around, he easily overpowered and impaled his Brother, staring into his eyes as he drove the spear into his sternum.

Even in a throe of death, his Brother attempted to claw at his eyes. For this, the champion threw him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He lost his spear in doing so, the wood snapping in his grip.

This clone clicked his tongue, slowly turning his gaze to her.

Every inch of his body was coated in his Brother’s blood. It was on his uniform, his arms, his face- it was what distinguished him from the other clones, both living and dead. That… And a strange softness to his cheeks. He was shorter than the others, as well, now that he stood at his full height.

She knew who she was looking at. It was so obvious. She knew him so well, now.

“…Hordak,” She breathed.

The alien- her guardian- ripped a knife from the grasp of a fallen clone. He flipped it in his hand, pointing the blade downward as he stalked toward her. There was _nothing_ in Hordak’s eyes- no love, no fear, no hatred.

Just the icy, calculated gaze of a predator.

She could immediately count ten bodies, but the blood on the wall implied there had been more. Something told her she was about to be number eleven.

“Go on, then,” Came a familiar, too-pleasant voice behind her. “You can’t have your reward unless you finish it all.”

She screamed. “HORDAK, NO, IT’S ME, IT’S CATRA- _WAIT_ -!!!”

If he heard her, he didn’t care. With a roaring cry, he brought the knife down.

She didn’t feel it- her world simply went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak is sent on a mission and makes a strange, new friend.

Catra sucked in her breath as her eyes snapped open. She shook violently, stumbling back as she clutched her chest.

No wound. Not even a tear in her clothes.

Cold chills ran through her entire body. She gulped lungfuls of air, sweat dripping down her temples as she recovered from her shock. She frantically scanned the room, her heart pounding.

Catra could see that she hadn’t left. She was still with Hordak in the training arena. She could see him straddling a clone, doing unspeakable things to its face with the blade he’d used to kill it. Directly in front of him sat Prime, watching with pride and barely restrained bloodlust.

She shuddered heavily, lips curling in a snarl of disgust. That had been her only moments ago, she realized with a gulp.

She must have some sort of control here, if she’s able to create her own form instead of inhabiting perspectives. She was ethereal, almost translucent. When she reached out to touch a clone directly beside her, her hand went straight through them.

Her ears pinned back. Whatever happened, it happened to Hordak- she was just along for the ride. “Shit… Be careful what you wish for, I guess,” She muttered, moving with more confidence towards the center of the room. She paid no mind to the clones she was passing through; Hordak, however, she kept a safe distance from.

He was _still_ … She didn’t want to look at it.

Behind the crowd were rows of weapons, marked by their planet and people of origin. They were all polished to a gleaming shine, a sign of hours spent meticulously maintaining them. The pod in the corner, even to her eyes, was something that was clearly installed there and not built.

She let out a small sigh of grief. Was this where Hordak lived? She flinched; no, she thought. This was where he was _kept_. Far away, where he couldn’t be seen or found.

The wet, slicing sounds had stopped as Hordak stumbled to his feet, dropping the knife with a soft clink. His chest heaved with his breath, green orbs bright and manic.

He looked to Prime alone for approval.

Prime regarded what he’d done to his Brother with a critical eye. After a short pause, he applauded, a warm smile stretching across his lips.

“Well done, Little Brother.”

Hordak blinked owlishly, bowing deeply as his other Brothers joined their leader. He looked _relieved_. Catra could see the slight wobbling to his legs, his hands closing into fists to hide how they trembled. “Thank you, Big Brother, thank you…” He squeaked out. “I live to please you.”

Catra covered her mouth, wholly aware how inappropriate it was to laugh at his voice. But it was so… _cute_. It didn’t belong in his throat at all. 

Prime rose from his seat, stepping over the clone as he approached Hordak. “Absolutely riveting. You move with such ferocity, such vigor…” He mused. He took in Hordak’s form as though he was a particularly beautiful butterfly that he had pinned to his wall, cupping his cheek to lift his head.

“Be at peace with your work, today. It has pleased me, entertained me. Their deaths were glorious under your talented hands.”

To this praise, Hordak’s ears twitched, a smile curling on his lips as he nuzzled his cheek into his palm. “I’m unworthy…. I have bathed in your glorious light, and I am better for it,” He exalted, voice trembling and unsure. Not of what he said; just the act of speaking itself was something he was unsure of.

The hand on his cheek moved to the top of his head, claws threading through white hair. Hordak’s shoulders rose, eyes widening slightly as he shivered.

“You see, Brothers?” Prime called out to their congregation. “Do you see that I work miracles? This Brother of ours was born defective. Forsaken right down to his DNA. But even before he left his gestation, I knew that he was _special_. Meant for far greater things than just the mercy of an early death. And with my care, my dedicated eye, he has risen beyond his lowly fate.”

Catra hissed loudly, watching him pet Hordak affectionately with the utmost loathing. “FUCK YOU!!! That’s all bullshit and you fucking know it!!” She screamed. “Its YOU!!! You fuck with their minds and bodies!! That’s probably why Hordak struggles to move, some days!! You did it to him, just like you did it to me!! Hordak’s fine the way he is!!!”

In her fury, she attempted to swipe at Prime. Naturally, she went straight through him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t try a second and third time to be sure. She’d waited for ages to get the chance to scream at this guy, and it felt good. “Get your fucking hands off of him, you fucking- AGH!!”

She could only throw her hands up in frustration. Yelling got her nowhere.

Catra couldn’t help it. She felt a surge of protective instincts; Hordak looked no older than she was. Maybe _younger_. And Prime played with his hair, cupped his cheek. Treated him like a _pet_ , unworthy of anything but pity.

“…This is really what you went through, isn’t it?” She asked aloud, following the pair as the other clones were sent away. Her voice trembled with her anger. “You lived here. Brought you out when he was _bored_ …”

Briefly, she thought of the sleeping quarters in the Fright Zone. How irritating it had been that they were always such a long way away from the training room. How they were all grouped together, so when she woke up, it was surrounded by people and not weapons.

She smiled softly. “Did you do that for us? Didn’t want us to sleep near where we learned to fight… Like that did anything,” She huffed. “Nice effort, though.”

Prime led Hordak to the port window, where they could see space in its vast, empty entirety. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Such darkness…” He mused. “One day, it will be as it began- a void of absolute nothing. There, I will be God. Doesn’t that sound pleasant?”

Hordak nodded. “It’s perfection, as you are,” He responded, practiced.

It was odd, when Catra thought about the interaction itself. These were clones of Prime. He had complete and total dominance over them. It was pretty useless to have conversations with them, wasn’t it?

So why was he talking to Hordak like this? What did he gain from it?

Catra cocked her head to the side. She stood close to Hordak, but refrained from touching him. She wasn’t sure yet how real this was for him, or how safe it was to interrupt whatever she was seeing. It could be like sleepwalking- disturbing the person in the middle of their dream caused a violent reaction. She had a feeling Hordak was in there, just… locked in an act. Reliving them.

Prime turned to Hordak, his arms folded behind his back. “You have grown into a vicious right hand, Little Brother. I see it no longer ails you to smite our unworthy few. You stand on sure legs. For a moment, I almost believed you were pure.”

Hordak stared down at his feet, wringing his hands as nervous energy built in his gait. “I… I am pure, aren’t I?” He audibly swallowed. “I… Have my monthly cleansings. My skin, my hair, my eyes, my teeth- all of them are reconditioned to your image. I have even stopped screaming so loudly during, as you have requested. M-My body strays from you, but my mind doesn’t. Is that… Not enough?”

Prime let him ramble, even when Catra could see it angered him. He chuckled dryly in response, one claw moving to rest on his shoulder- dangerously close to Hordak’s throat.

“It will never be enough. And that is simply the cost of your existence,” He explained, voice dripping with sweetness. “You are not simply defective. As an embryo, you were sinful, and refused to accept the glorious gifts I have bestowed our Brothers. While our Brothers live in peaceful bliss, feeling nothing under my careful eye… You reject me through your emotion. You give in to your savage impulses, and you inspire empathy in our enemies.”

His claws dug into the fabric of Hordak’s collar. “Need I remind you that you were shown _mercy_ , and denied a warrior’s death by the Eternians?” His face was almost wounded. “You brought shame to me that day.”

The younger Brother flinched, like he’d been struck. “I’m sorry,” He said quietly.

He let Hordak go, then, pushing him seemingly just for the amusement of seeing him stumble. Hordak didn’t fall to the ground, but he did flail as he tried to prevent it.

Prime grinned predatorily, tapping his chin. “Such empathy is… Useful. I will mold you into a perfect warrior- capable of converting our enemies and slaughtering them. And when I am done with that sinful brain of yours, I will purify it once and for all.”

Hordak’s face lit up with hope. “And we shall become one?”

“No. _You_ , dear Brother, shall become _me_.”

It was gone, again. “… I see. I am honored, Big Brother. I will… Make you proud, when I go out to the field. I will slaughter the Eternian refugees like the scum they are.” Hordak grinned, eyes flashing with desire. “I will smite them with all the force of The Horde. All for you.”

“And I will look forward to witnessing it front and center. I do love exploring your mind as you kill; unlike your Brothers, your brain is so… active.”

It clicked for Catra, at that. She recoiled away from Prime, moving to put herself between the two of them. “Is that it? You just like what his brain does when you make him kill things? What, does it get you off, you sick fuck?!” She shouted. “Does it make you feel good, talking to him like he’s nothing?!”

She briskly turned her body away from the alien, the sight of someone so cruel more vile than even the carnage behind them.

Her hands hesitated as they reached out for Hordak’s. They hovered over his, almost touching, but not quite. He had his own clasped at his chest, head turned low and he unconsciously made himself as small as he possibly could.

Prime left them, then, without another word. The state of the room was, no doubt, Hordak’s responsibility to clean.

Catra’s mouth pulled into a thin line. At the height Hordak was at, they were nearly eye-to-eye. “It’s okay. This isn’t your entire life,” She promised, her voice cracking. “You get… so much better. You get to be a _King_. Your wife is so fucking hot, and she loves you so much.”

Her lips trembled. “You don’t have to kill anything… Not even spiders.”

It broke her heart, not being able to comfort him. When the silence of the room confirmed that, yes, Hordak was now alone, a wash of pain rolled over his features. He began to hyperventilate, sinking to his knees as he attempted to gain control of himself.

Catra joined him on the ground, unable to be anything but a silent presence.

“… I’m sorry,” She said suddenly, reaching out again but not touching. “I shouldn’t have tried to force you to tell me anything. Of course, this guy treated you like this. Of course, you didn’t want to remember it…” She trailed off. Tears had welled up in her eyes. Without the threat of being seen, she let them fall.

Catra sat in silence with Hordak as he wept in frightened, muted gasps. She wasn’t sure how long they were there; time felt far too malleable, in this space.

She didn’t care. Maybe, the next time Prime came back, she could figure out how to put a spear through _his_ sternum.

She sighed, wiping her face as she grew determined, again. “If you can hear me in there, Hordak, you can wake up right now. You can go back. Entrapta’s waiting for you!! She needs chicken soup!!” She encouraged. “Come on, wake up.”

“… _Can’t_ ,” Was her response, the voice worn down to its absolute threads and spoken between heaving sobs. “ _Looking_...”

Catra’s eyes widened, her body jolting to an alert crouch. “What?! Hordak!?”

In a loud cacophony of sound and color, the world around them both shifted and spasmed.

Catra cried out in terror as the ground flickered in and out of existence underneath her, the blood around them seeming to lift from the walls and floor. It hovered in mid-air, gathering into a large, red orb.

Then, it dropped with a sickening splash, traveling towards them like a tidal wave.

The sobbing from Hordak grew louder, distorted, until it was barely recognizable at all as a voice.

As the tsunami of blood washed over her, Catra could only shield herself and close her eyes.

***

A tinny vibrato was the first sound Catra could hear as she came to- exactly in the position she’d been in moments ago. “...If I find out that was you being dramatic, I’m going to hurt you…” She grumbled, shaking her head to clear the noise from her mind.

There had been a lapse of time and a change of scenery, she realized. Instead of the cold, artificial air of the Horde ship, she felt the crisp warmth of a planet- particularly, the temperature after a hard rainfall.

Her breath was stolen from her as she stood at the mouth of an alleyway, gazing out to the world before her.

Before her eyes was a city she couldn’t fathom existing. Giant, moving pictures told her to buy things, to go places. At least, she’s pretty sure that’s what they were advertising; the language was far different than anything Catra had seen. They were certainly persuasive with their massive size and vibrancy.

Impossibly tall buildings stretched high into the stormy sky, with the lights of a million different rooms stretching out like stars. While the street was dark grey and quiet- nearly empty- there were large, metal hovercrafts that would occasionally drift by and pick up people.

Everything about it was advanced… An almost synonymous reflection of what Catra had thought the future would be.

“Wow… You weren’t kidding about Etheria being a mudball,” Catra stated aloud. Now that she was certain Hordak could, at least, hear her, she would at the very least give him nice commentary to his brain hunt. “What are you looking for, anyways?”

She turned around to see Hordak standing with his Brothers in a tight circle. They were obscured by the shadows, masked by the night. Where the clones were still easily noticeable with their white garb, Hordak was nearly invisible in his black clothing. His eyes, however, stood out.

Bright, fluorescent red.

Still no sword, she noted. He wasn’t such a cute kid anymore, either. So he was skipping around…? Did he even know what he was searching for?

Hordak appeared to match the age of his Brothers, now. Where they stood with perfect rigidness, he would shift from resting his weight from one leg to another, his arms crossed. His ears twitched as he heard droplets of water hit the pavement; his brothers might have been deaf for how much attention they paid to their environment.

“You will keep watch as I do my work,” Hordak ordered. Though a clone was holding the information about the meeting, he wasn’t looking at it with the rest of them. He was checking the speed of his draw, wholly uninterested in whatever specifics Prime left them with. “Two of you will keep your scopes on the back door, in case he escapes. Be prepared to aim lower than what you would typically. As a dwarf, he is far shorter than most of our typical targets. Try not to hit anything like a bag, or a bulge in clothing.”

The young alien huffed out a laugh. “Not that you’ll be necessary. I can handle this myself, naturally. I am Prime’s favorite. You’re simply backup, should I require cover,” He declared, smirking smugly.

Catra snorted at the patronizing tone he took. “Oof. It’s like looking in a mirror…” She muttered, her face turning red as she realized they were _literally_ standing in the same, attitude-ridden posture. Was it possible to inherit traits someone had in the past?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low growl from her guardian. “Is there something wrong, Brother?” Hordak hissed, catching a clone’s dissenting glare.

The clone leveled his gaze at him. “…I find it odd that you were chosen to lead this operation. Are you sure you’re capable of it, with that defective behavior of yours?” He asked, voice lacking anything but the mild, uniform tone of all clones. “What if you are distracted by the enemy?”

Hordak was taken aback by such a bold statement. “ _Excuse me?_ ” He barked, head cocking to one side. He approached the clone, leaning until he was inches from his Brother’s face. “I don’t think I heard you correctly, dear Brother. _Repeat it_.”

The clone didn’t break, staring at him unblinking.

It had been a while since Hordak was on the Horde Ship. His hair had turned a light, sky blue. Though it wasn’t visible at the moment with the several layers of black garb, the clones knew that Hordak possessed a pigment on his body that marked him as a savage.

His eyes held his own thoughts, his own feelings.

The clone sneered with distaste. “You scratch away your skin, revealing _corruption_ underneath. We are all thinking it, Brother. We do not question Prime… But we question _you_ ,” The clone stated coldly. “ _You_ are not Prime.”

Hordak squared his jaw and leaned away, head tilted as he mulled over these accusations.

“… I see.”

The motion was sharp, _artful_. Hordak had turned his body away, to lead his Brother into a moment of security. Then, as quickly as he gave it, he took it away; lightning fast, he drove a short blade into his stomach, turning it without the trembling hands Catra had seen only minutes ago.

The clone let out a choked cry, doubling over the blade as Hordak drove it deeper to finish the job. Catra stiffened at the sound, eyes squeezing shut as she heard him throw the body to his Brothers’ feet.

For Hordak, it had been years filled with distrust and disdain. More years than what Catra was aware of. He aged far slower than his Brothers, who were meant to have a shelf life unless deemed worthy of Prime. He was a uneven peg amongst them, somehow deemed worthy enough not to be smashed down.

Yet.

Hordak thought of his Brothers as “worth killing” and “not worth killing”. The same way he thought of everyone.

“Do any of my _other_ , dear Brothers doubt my ability to lead this mission?” Hordak asked curtly, flipping the blade downward and returning it to its sheath on his hip.

He received nothing but silence.

The invader nodded, feigning their same polite, emotionless gaze in an almost petty way. “Good. You’re taking his place, now. Burn the body in one of those garbage cans.”

That was more like the Hordak she knew. Catra sighed softly as she followed him to a building pulsing like a heartbeat, compelled to do so out of concern and… Well, curiosity. This is exactly what she wanted to see, after all. A part of her was even a bit excited to learn what Hordak did as an invader.

He was disguised to resemble an aquakind, all distinguishing features hidden by a thick hood and mask that he pulled up to his eyes. He seemed to watch the people for a moment from across the street, eyes narrowed with concentration.

“Moving in packs…? Mammals are pack animals. Naturally,” He mumbled to himself, nodding. “They… Prefer creatures that move as they do. Without thought, but not absent of feeling. As… stupid, thoughtless things.”

He watched someone join a crowd entering, pink and green lights pouring out of the doors as they clustered through them.

He crossed the street then, joining a group of already-drunk aquakind. Easily, he slid into pace with them, allowing himself to be jostled about like he was their comrade. His gait was calm and nonchalant; as if he truly belonged there, he nodded his head to the guards as he entered the building.

“Ah, I get it. You figure out _why_ they move like that, and you copy it,” Catra said aloud. “People do that without even thinking, you know. You’re not special.”

She trotted next to him to keep pace, easily phasing through the strange, faceless people. Whatever Hordak remembered was what she could see, it seemed. Made sense.

There was a huge party going on inside; for what, however, Catra was unsure. People were certainly drinking like they had something to celebrate. They were doing quite a bit else, and she found herself having to avert her eyes more than once… Only to find that the space she’d moved her gaze to was even worse.

Why the hell was Hordak in a place like this? She’d never seen so many blacked out, horny people before. This was pure debauchery.

Hordak, for that reason, kept to the walls as he wormed his way to the bar. His eye twitched at the loud, booming music that shook the walls, raising his hand to cover his ear.

“Oh, really, dude? Is _that_ what’s bothering you? You snobby about music?” Catra tried to yell over the noise. She took a seat next to him, grinning ear-to-ear at the light flush on his cheeks. “You realize your waitress is topless, right? Look her in the eyes, I _dare_ you.”

There was a loud commotion behind them, close to the stairs. Despite how close that was to them, Hordak only turned to see if it was coming towards him. When it wasn’t, he turned back and gestured for water... Without lifting his head.

“Coward.”

“Hey there!! You look terrifying. You mind helping a friend out?”

Hordak jolted as someone wrapped their arms around his midsection. They slid behind him, the movement of their hands over his torso stunning him with its unexpectedly gentle touch. He even let out a chirp.

In response, he heard a warm laugh. “Hey, that’s not an Aquakind noise.”

At that, Hordak recovered from the grab. He growled dangerously, teeth baring as he glared at the human that dared to touch him. “You…!”

Amazingly, in the sea of blurry people, this one was clear as day. The man was almost as tall as Hordak, and built like an athlete. He had golden skin and strawberry blonde hair, the choppy strands hair cut into an untended mop. They framed his chiseled, youthful face and dazzling smile. His eyes were deep blue, and seemed to sparkle even in the dim lights.

Hordak was unimpressed by him. “You will let go of me,” He threatened in a dark voice, reaching for his blades. “ _Now_.”

“Oh, come on,” He whispered. Catra could hear it clear as day, as if it was in her own ear. His voice was smooth and warm, holding just the barest hint of amusement. “Look at how stab-able they are.”

Suddenly, Hordak was swiveled in his stool towards one angry catman and an even angrier lizardkind. They’d finally spotted where the human had taken shelter and stormed over, pistol and blaster drawn respectively.

“YOU. We weren’t done _talking_ , rat!!” The lizardkind cried, instead eyeing the shield the rat had found. He pointed his blaster at Hordak, three rows of sharp teeth revealed as he curled his lips back.

“Who the fuck are you? That’s our meat. We found it first,” The catman grunted. “Piss off.”

“Gladly,” Was Hordak’s sharp response, successfully shucking the man’s arms from his torso. That grip was shocking difficult to wrangle himself from…

And difficult to escape, as well. His arm was grabbed firmly, the other male leaning in to speak to him again. “You look like someone who’s looking for something,” He pointed out, his voice dropping quite a bit of that cheeriness. “I think I can help you… Brother.”

Hordak’s head snapped to him, the name sending him on high alert. “…Would you gentlemen like to discuss this matter outside?” He offered carefully, not tearing his eyes from the knowing gaze of his new companion. “I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

***

One composed, level-head agreement later, Hordak was cleaning blood off of his blade again. Catra wished she could say she was shocked by the level of violence Hordak resorted to… But, honestly, she wasn’t. This seemed to be the law of the land. Much like in the Crimson Wastes on Etheria, this place went by Survival of The Deadliest.

As soon as the pair was not-so-gently led into a back alley, Hordak had acted. He wanted to untangle this snag in his plans quickly and efficiently, and didn’t care the consequences of his actions. Prime would forgive him, surely.

Hordak had grabbed the catman’s gun- and the hand holding it- and crushed it like it was tin. It an aggressive, upward swipe, he drew his blade and slit his throat before the scream of pain could escape it.

Likewise, his companion had proven he wasn’t as helpless as he seemed; the man disarmed the lizardman with a sharp kick, using his own blaster to fire a round through his skull. “Prick…” The man grumbled, watching him hit the ground with a thud.

He then looked to Hordak with a wolfish grin, thumping his chest twice with his fist. “Thanks. I’m a married man. That would have been really rough explaining to my wife,” He joked.

When his blade was clean, Hordak simply held it in a loose grip. He regarded the peculiar human with a careful eye, his gaze resting on the blaster in his hand.

“Who are you? One of ours?” He asked casually. Where before, he saw the man as a flea, the possibility of coming across one of their spies had Hordak regarding him with a little more respect.

The man laughed gruffly, raising his blaster as a warning. “No. But I know a member of The Horde when I see one…” He trailed off. His gaze never left Hordak, even when Hordak broke their eye contact with an irritated turn of his head.

He was… studying him, almost. As if he was trying to confirm something in his mind.

“But I’m… not unsympathetic to your goals,” The man added after a moment.

At that, Hordak’s ears shot up. A human, willingly agreeing to Prime’s ideals? It was most unorthodox. But… Not impossible. Hordak had simply never heard of a creature that was not a clone understanding Prime’s glorious vision for the universe.

This was the secret task Prime had given him- to convert humans with his unique ability to know them. To lure them in and have them turn on their people. And right before him, one had presented itself.

The man smiled mischievously, knowing he’d piqued Hordak’s interest. “I am… A neutral third party, here for my own interests. More importantly… I’m not your enemy,” He explained, returning his blaster to his hip. He dusted off his hands on his maroon trousers, extending one with a twinkle in his eye.

“The name’s Adam. Adam of… Kinda everywhere.”

Hordak clicked his tongue, regarding the hand and Adam with a great level of contempt. Not a convert, then. A fan. “We do not touch in the Horde,” He said sharply. “Do not think I have forgiven your actions earlier. So what if you agree with us?”

He grinned. Catra could see the way the satisfaction filled his expression. “You are not one of us,” He spat.

Adam caught it, too. “… You hear that a lot, big guy?” He raised an eyebrow. “Did that feel good to say to someone else?”

Hordak balked, reeling back with a growl. “We are done talking!! I will allow you to live this once, in the hopes you kill more for Prime’s glory. But we will be enemies-“

“ _Listen_.” Adam look to be at his wits end with Hordak’s dramatics. “Just humor me. This thing you’re searching for… I’m looking for it, too. So we’re gonna be enemies in, like, ten minutes. Let’s wait until we actually have the thing we’re about to fight over, eh?” Adam offered with a tilt of his head. “He’s a suspicious guy. I know him personally, so he’d be willing to sell it to me. You were going to kill him to get it, right?”

Hordak scowled. “Maybe.”

“Well, hear me out- what if we didn’t need to kill to get the thing we wanted?”

Both Catra and Hordak’s eyes slid to the bodies at their feet.

“Bit late for that, isn’t it?” Hordak asked dryly, raising his brow.

At that, the glint in Adam’s eye grew. He nodded to himself, holding out his hand again. “Let’s work together, for now,” He stated with an official tone.

Hordak studied him carefully, slowly sheathing his remaining blade. It would be far easier to negotiate this if he appeared to be with another company. The human provided a useful cloak.

“Fine,” He relented, shaking his hand. Adam’s grip was firm, like iron, and Hordak responded with a squeeze that made him wince. “But only because fair creatures like you tend to scream when they’re gutted.”

His brothers were waiting in case something went wrong. He refrained, for now, from giving the signal.

With the help of the human, Hordak quickly disposed of the two bodies. When their crimes were covered, he allowed Adam to lead him back into the club.

The human’s destination was the second floor of the building, where there was fewer people and far more empty tables. “This better? You look like you’re struggling to hear yourself think, over there,” Adam teased.

Where he easily sat at a table, buying a drink with a charming quirk of his lips, Hordak stood off to the side and remained silent. He dutifully ignored the woman as she tried to take his order, until she stormed away with a huff.

Adam’s smile faded slightly, a look of exasperation on his face. “You’re supposed to sit down with me, you know,” He pointed out, leaning back on the couch.

“I know what you’re supposed to do. It’s easy for me to understand behavioral patterns. You mortals are simple,” Hordak hissed back. “I just don’t trust you, human.”

That seemed to absolutely shock Adam. “Are you serious? We just talked about this!! Lighten up. Sit down, I’ll order something better than water.”

Adam grabbed onto his cloak and yanked a squawking Hordak onto the couch, the action startling the alien into bristling like a cat.

Catra had already sat beside Adam, watching the two bicker back and forth with growing clarity.

“…This is who you’re looking for,” She said aloud. As if to confirm her suspicions, the world seemed to stutter, Adam’s face becoming as blurry as the rest. It last for only a second, his face returning with an almost violent force.

She hummed softly, watching the unending stare-down Hordak had been unknowingly getting. Whatever the two were looking for, it wasn’t nearly what interested the human the most. He seemed far more intrigued by Hordak himself.

Adam tried to ask about battles he’d been a part of, both space and terrain. Hordak answered none of his questions, glaring out into the crowd below.

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that long ago. Maybe you were at the Fall of Eternia-?”

“Why do you care so much, human?” Hordak bit out, suddenly cutting him off. “Tell me that, and _maybe_ I might answer your pithy questions.”

Adam seemed disappointed by the subject change, but he recovered quickly. “Oh… I used to be a part of the Resistance. Loved shooting you guys in the face. I was just wondering if I’ve seen you before,” He explained. He snorted out a laugh. “I wouldn’t know, after all.”

“…Used to be?” Hordak repeated, his interest in the human piqued once more. “I’ve never heard of a defect of the Resistance.”

At that, the beaming grin that the man wore like a permanent feature was cast from his face. “... They wanted something from me I couldn’t give them,” He stated, hands clenching his drink tightly. He leaned back, his smile returning smaller and bitterer. “So I bailed. What, you’ve never thought about bailing on Prime?”

“ _Never_ ,” Hordak argued firmly. “I bathe in his light, and it is good.”

“… Is it? I’ve seen what they do to people who don’t obey.” He looked pointedly at Hordak, thumbing the rim of his glass. “Those who don’t _conform_. Like you.”

Hordak stiffened, a hand reflexively moving a sword. “…You know… _Me_.”

Adam smirked, nodding as he leaned in. “Who doesn’t? Prime’s most beloved creature. His colonizer, his killer, his one and only warlord. You work in the shadows, but people are more terrified of you than Prime. Because when people look in your eyes, they don’t see something empty. Prime doesn’t directly control you like his clones; you kill because you want to.”

“That is… I,” Hordak admitted. This human was surprisingly knowledgeable about him…

“So it’s true…? You aren’t connected to the Hivemind?” Adam asked, his hand on his blaster. “Don’t lie to me, because I’ll know if you are or not. Trust me.”

Hordak hesitated, jaw clenching shut. “…Yes,” He forced out. “I am not connected to the Hivemind. Prime has yet to… Bless me with that gift.”

“You mean he doesn’t know how to.”

“You will stop that blasphemous talk!” Hordak’s patience had snapped. “Where is this dwarf!? He is late-!!!”

“Relax… He’ll be here.” Adam’s gaze shifted to something more apprehensive. His eyes, for the first time since they landed on Hordak, flitted to look behind him.

Behind Hordak, Catra could see a shadowy figure approaching. Under the loud music, their footsteps were silent. When the light struck them, they seemed to be made of smoke, the shape just barely hinting to their true form.

Unaware but paranoid nonetheless, Hordak reached hurriedly into his coat. He fumbled for a minute, confusion slowly filling up his features as he struggled to find what he was looking for.

What he was looking for- the communicator he used to signal his Brothers- was in Adam’s hand. He was smiling sheepishly, apologetic as he crushed it in his palm.

Hordak let out a threatening roar, rising from his seat-

-Right as a stun baton was shoved into his back, sending enough volts of electricity to drop him immediately.

Hordak’s consciousness was fading rapidly- as such, the memory was starting to break apart like before. The lights around Catra became large orbs of blinding color as the floor once again fell away. She had to cover her eyes, for fear of being blinded.

Just barely, she could make out Adam and his accomplice as they stood over Hordak, pulling his mask and hood down.

“This him?” Adam asked them.

“…Yes. It’s him,” Was the fading response he got.

“That’s the one Mara was talking about.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak strikes up a bargain with his new companions.

_Burning skies. Boiling seas. Continents shattering underneath feet._

_The very soul of a planet, screaming its final cry of agony as it dies._

_A mad, chaotic scramble for ships, for safety._

_Through crumbling alleys, over creatures living, dead, and lost, he ran. The faces of the Eternians blurry, unknowable forever to him._

_Must get to the ship. His handlers were dead. Prime will be angry if he dies, too._

_Lost. So, so lost. Can’t think, can’t breathe._

_Left, right, down the steps, another left. Wherever he could run to that wasn’t blocked off by flame and debris._

_Into a clearing- was it safe?_

_No. Not safe._

_“Don’t come any closer, Horde Scum!!”_

_A blaster, clasped in the shaking hand of a human male. A human youngling in the male’s arm, meeting his gaze with glassy, red eyes._

_A ship behind them. A dead female at their feet._

_… The humans were hurt._

_He was hurt too._

_He must kill. He must._

_But._

_He didn’t want to._

_His hands were shaking; he couldn’t._

_The blaster dropped slowly. “…Are you… A child?”_

_Scared. Scared. Scared._

_Pain. Hate pain. No more pain._

_“Don’t hurt me, please… I don’t want to die!! I don’t want to-!!”_

_Something touches his shoulder._

_“Easy, easy… It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”_

_It was warm. Felt… Different. It wasn’t pain._

_“…Your Brothers’ ship is that way. Go quickly.”_

_Freedom? For him? Unworthy._

_“Ah… Thank you!!”_

_Couldn’t help it. He was grateful._

_It was… Kind._

***

Catra’s eyes opened slowly.

The bright light shining in her face made her groan and turn her head from it. Above her, she heard Hordak let out a confused, sleepy chirp, followed a soft jingling of chains.

Catra shook herself to full consciousness, ears and tail twitching as she tried to raise herself to her feet. That was, somehow, nearly impossible; she grunted as her vision warped and shifted, doing so even more as she rolled onto her stomach.

She blinked blearily, watching shadows walk across the floor like mice with wide, dilated eyes. “…Holy shit, they drugged him,” She muttered, her mouth dry as cotton as she gulped.

Using a table for balance, Catra eventually managed to pull herself to her feet. She could see Hordak was, in fact, strapped to that table, just as blitzed out as she was. Probably more, considering this was only a secondhand sensation. 

The room was bigger than the small dome of light they were under, but outside of it was pitch black. Where the light touched, colors swam over the floor like snakes, disappearing and reappearing into the darkness. The array of equipment next to them seemed to melt together, dripping onto the floor in chunks.

She could only stare at it with the strangest feeling of dread in her stomach.

Oh, they _drugged_ him, alright.

She could see Hordak was struggling to wake up. While the light was bright, it would fade in and out as the alien’s eyes glazed over and sharpened.

He’d tried fighting his restraints as well, but he very quickly gave up on that. He was bound with three different types of straps- iron, leather, and some sort of plastic. There was a muzzle over his mouth, even, chained with _three_ locks. The only movement he could freely make was a lazy roll of his head.

Which was corrected with a touch so gentle and so sudden that Hordak hissed, the colors in his eyes growing harsh and jagged.

The owner of those hands stood just out of Hordak’s field of vision; Catra, however, recognized it as the person with Adam. This time, the smoky form was more solid, resembling a tall woman with sharp features.

“At ease, Horde Captain,” She ordered, tone monotone and sterile.

At that, like a spell, the tension in Hordak’s body left him, his eyes drooping half-mast as he calmed down. In his drug-laden mind, he must have thought he was on Horde Prime’s ship.

“Please state your serial number,” She said calmly, shining a small light in his eye. Her other hand pressed down on his forehead to keep it still.

He blinked slowly in thought, making a low noise when he remembered. “1312,” He slurred. “Special Invader Class i1- Horde Captain.”

The light went away. The touch to Hordak wasn’t unkind, but it was very clinical. She checked a tube that fed neon-green fluid into the port on his arm, carefully readjusting it when she saw his squirming had caused it to loosen.

Pressing two fingers to the side of his throat to check his pulse, she continued. “Very good,” She said. “What is your current mission?”

“Tasked with acquiring artifact of the She-Ra… Contains Top Secret Horde Intelligence… Special permission to execute as necessary… Blah, blah, blah…”

Hordak suddenly giggled, his dazed smile barely visible behind the muzzle. “Hm… I’m sorry- what were we talking about? I’ve forgotten, suddenly…”

Catra heard a stifled laugh from the woman, the hand on his forehead moving to his hair to smooth it out. It was a surprisingly affectionate gesture, but Hordak recoiled from it, hissing again with mild panic.

The woman gasped, taking her touch away completely. “Stand down, Brother!!” She snapped, her hand raising to grasp something on her back.

Hordak cringed at the demand, pouting guiltily. “Ah- Forgive me… I do not like my hair follicles to be touched,” He mumbled. “Please forgive me.”

The shadowy hand hesitantly lowered. “O-Oh… I’m sorry. I won’t touch it again.” The sterile tone had dropped, temporarily, but was quickly regained as the woman refocused.

Hordak seemed genuinely shocked by her apology. Even a tad overwhelmed by it. “…You are the kindest Brother I’ve ever met…” He whispered breathily, eyes wide as saucers.

A hearty laugh emanated from the darkness.

“Oof. I’ll have what he’s having!” Came Adam’s lighthearted, teasing voice. Hordak bristled like a cat at it, his high immediately souring.

The rest of the lights flickered on, brightening the rest of the room.

Catra cooed with wonder. Once again, she found herself in space, hovering in the orbit of a deep-red planet. Around them were several ships- big and small, official and personal- docked there and awaiting passage to the world below. They were about midway through the line, marked by the ships far ahead gliding into the auburn clouds below.

The ship’s interior was almost familiar to Catra. It deeply resembled Mara’s ship, but if it had experienced several upgrades. The controls were entirely different; bigger panels with more efficiently placed buttons. The captain’s chair wasn’t built into the floor, and was surrounded by a desk that was.

Hordak was on a table that had been brought in, the slab of marble hovering two feet off the ground with a pastel-red glow.

Adam stood in a doorway to their immediate left, hands in his pockets as he watched their captive squirm feebly under his bindings.

“No… _You_ …!!!” Hordak growled hatefully, head snapping to and fro.

“Sorry, big guy. Didn’t know what you’d do when you woke up, so Teela had the bright idea of giving you something to calm those nerves,” Adam explained, approaching with prideful steps. “You like it? It was my idea to put the fun stuff in it. Figured you could use that dopamine kick.”

Glancing back to the table, Catra could finally see that Adam’s companion- Teela- was captivatingly beautiful, with flaxen hair and blood-red eyes. Her face was covered with freckles, stretching from her forehead to her neck. On her back was a spear made of solid gold, engraved with accents of birds and foxes, the thin blade at the end made of a strange, gleaming bone.

She carried herself at her full height with pride, her ruby lips pursed as she stared down at the alien.

Hordak’s eyes filled with betrayal as he realized he hadn’t been speaking to his Brother. He growled darkly at her, struggling despite his muddy brain. “I will smite you for this, you wretched-!!”

All of that terrifying energy dropped as he realized that he genuinely couldn’t escape his bindings. He must have finally noticed the numerous surgical tools next to him, as well, because a nervous sweat began beading at his temple.

“-Human with… Empathy… And a penchant not to enjoy the sounds of screams,” He finished, choosing his words very cautiously.

Teela smirked, picking up a pair of scissors. Catra could tell they’d been used to cut through his clothes to get to a port, but Hordak was not in the same state of rationality as her.

He resumed his thrashing with a bit more enthusiasm.

“Hey!! Knock it off!!” Adam chided angrily, grabbing him by the muzzle. “You break anything, and you’ve got no healing station to fix it. You aren’t getting out that easily, clone.”

Frustration evident on her features, Teela grabbed Adam’s arm and dragged him away from the alien. When she felt they were appropriately far away to have this conversation, she sighed raggedly. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she leveled her gaze at Adam.

“…We have to drop him off somewhere,” She declared, hand lifting from her face with a flick. “Hell, we should probably just open the air lock and throw him into space.”

“ _What_!? Teela, you realize what this clone is, right?” He cried, gesturing to Hordak with his hand. “This is THE one. The only one we may ever find!!!”

“I am VERY aware of what this clone is!!” She shot back quickly, her composed expression momentarily breaking. She looked to Hordak again with misery etched into her features. “I wouldn’t have gone looking for him if I knew that the cute, doe-eyed alien I saw turned into THIS. This is not a lost soul. This is a space fascist!!”

“Teela, we’ve been over this. They’re just a death cult- they don’t have the freedom to have fascist thought.”

Adam paused, lips pulling into a thin line. “…Except him. He might actually be a fascist,” He added, grimacing slightly.

“ _Adam_.”

“Are you serious, Teela? Think about what you’re saying.” Adam put his hands on her shoulders affectionately. He smiled softly, reassuringly, holding her close to him. “We are _so close_ to doing something real, here. What if your dad was right? What if Mara was _right_?”

Teela looked from Hordak to Adam. Right then, Catra saw something so shockingly familiar about this woman, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was the glimmer of hope she gained to her features, the determined smile she donned.

“… I’ll lower his dosage so he can be interviewed.”

“Thatta girl! Now you’re thinking like a real rebel!”

Adam wandered back over to Hordak, barely containing his amusement at the state the alien was in. He poked Hordak’s temple with a grin, snatching his hand away when Hordak tried to bite it.

He received a wink for his efforts.

“Nice try.”

The action had Hordak’s cheeks turning red, flushing with shame. “I will… strip you… of all your skin… and roast you in my engine fires.”

“Interesting thing for a clone to say on _my_ table,” Teela quipped back. “Careful. Adam still hasn’t fully convinced me yet whether or not to dissect you _after_ we chat.”

Catra snickered at the way Hordak cowered, ears drooping as he submitted.

As Teela began to mess with a few machines to Hordak’s right, Adam took a seat by Hordak’s waist, leaning over him with far too much confidence. The look on the alien’s face could only be described as “petty acknowledgement”.

Adam carefully began to remove the first lock on Hordak’s muzzle. As he did so, he spoke with a carefree air, as if he wasn’t dangerously close to two rows of sharp, red teeth. “First of all, I want to apologize for lying to you. About a lot of things- everything, really. Sadly, buddy, there’s no dwarf. I set it all up- tipped Prime off to my location and everything. You walked right into a trap. Some things were unplanned, but hey!”

He grinned toothily. “We got there, eventually.”

Adam jerked back as Hordak tried to headbutt him, laughing as the action went (luckily) unnoticed by his wife. When he undid the last two locks, he wasn’t as kind about yanking Hordak’s head around to get to them.

“Before you kill me, hear me out- I’m still not your enemy. I just needed to give you a good alibi to Prime. Your Brothers think you’ve been kidnapped.”

Hordak hissed darkly, rolling his jaw as his mouth was finally released. “I have been kidnapped!!” He snapped.

The human merely shrugged. “That’s debatable. Anyways, the more important thing… I wasn’t lying about having _this_.”

From the pocket of his jacket, he took out a sphere made of rusted glass and metal. It looked ages old, held together only by willpower.

Adam placed it daintily on the metal table beside them, the glass briefly flashing blue as his fingers brushed over it.

Hordak followed its placement with his eyes, barely restraining his desire for it.

Secrets that were stolen by the last She-Ra were on that device. Just within his reach, it was the one item that could elevate him to the highest ranks of the Horde Army. He would rightfully earn his place in Prime’s Brotherhood. His love.

“I’ll give it to you, no sweat,” Adam declared. “Won’t even cry if you destroy it. But, before that, you have to do some things for me.”

Hordak shuddered as the world steadily grew sane, again, the colors and harsh vividness of the room growing duller. “And why would I not just slaughter you like the vermin you are and take it?” He asked, tone dripping with malice.

Adam’s lips quirked upwards in a half-teasing smile. “You’re a curious person,” He stated simply. “You like learning things.”

He looked to his wife with a broader smile. “You aren’t the only one that’s studying the enemy, my friend. I know more about you than you do. Teela handles the biology; I’m the historian. Together… We have secrets about you clones that only Prime knows. Secrets about _you_ , specifically. I’ll gladly tell you anything you want to know _if_ you’re nice about asking.”

Hordak’s eyes flashed, briefly, with temptation. Prime had given great knowledge to all of them, but not about themselves. Hordak was aware of the most basic of his bodily functions, but he’d always been so devilishly curious how exactly he was different than his Brothers.

Most importantly, he wanted to know what had made his… Upbringing… Justifiable. It was a strange, nagging feeling in the back of his mind whenever he looked to Horde Prime. A dark, bitter feeling. Remembering when he was a pet brought him the burn of humiliation and anger, not joy as Prime told him it should. He could not rationalize some of the things that had been done to him, given the position his Brother had so easily bestowed upon him when his type of killing became a utility.

He’d once, during a particularly anguishing night of little sleep, entertained the idea that he could prove he wasn’t defective. That he knew better than his creator. That, perhaps… His Brother had made an error.

But the thought had been an apple, and he wouldn’t dare bite. He would not allow himself to question Prime. Such thinking was blasphemy, worthy of death. Prime was perfection; he modified all of his clones to be as perfect as he was. It had been Hordak’s fault that he refused some of them. Anything Prime did to him afterwards, surely, was to further this perfection.

Hordak refused to be fooled by the odd natures of these humans. They were his enemies, no matter how desperately they tried to tell him otherwise.

“You will rot in a void-filled grave, heretic,” Was his response to Adam’s offer.

Adam’s eyes rolled back in their skull before settling on him once more with far less patience. “You are in the middle of Rebellion controlled territory. I would love to see you try to fight single-handedly through it.”

Oh, shit. Yeah, that would be an issue for him.

He leaned forward again, looming over Hordak. “Hang out with us for a few weeks,” He offered, voice lowering to something more intimate. “Answer some of our questions. Help me run a few errands. And then Teela and I will disappear into the empty space, never to be seen again. You can go back to Prime and say you slaughtered an entire race to get the artifact back. He’ll be so thrilled, he won’t bother fact-checking himself.”

The man thought for a moment. “It’ll be… Quid pro quo,” He said with flourish.

Hordak’s head cocked to the side. “Quid pro quo…?” He repeated, unsure of its definition.

“Yep. It means I do something for you- give you this artifact. So, now, you have to you do something for me- be my accomplice for a while.”

Frowning deeply, Hordak heavily deliberated his options. He had very little that wouldn’t end in his premature death. The only one that held any resemblance of survival was… Unfortunately… Cooperating with the humans. At least, until he was out of Rebellion territory.

And… Surely, if he was going to _be_ Prime, one day, he had a right to know some of the forbidden knowledge. Prime may not believe his mind was capable of handling such deep, arcane truths; however, if the humans were able to understand it, then he could as well tenfold.

“I will be a guest on your ship… For now,” Hordak relented, turning his nose up at the human. “But I will be no accomplice.”

Adam’s eyes glinted. “Not even to breaking into an armory?”

Hordak’s ears twitched. “… Which one…?”

“We’re in the line for Kakala right now. So… The _big_ one.”

“… I might be persuaded to join you in that.”

***

Water was a strange thing to have, after subsisting on the amniotic fluid for so long. He’d had it before; it disturbed him that something like that could taste different depending on its _metal_ content. The water that Teela gave him to drink, however, had quite a pleasant reaction to his palate.

She seemed delighted that he liked it, but didn’t let it show too honestly. “That’s nectar water. I have discovered your kind like natural sweeteners, like nectar, honey, and fruits,” She told him. “That’s not the only thing- I’m almost positive you’re an omnivore with a particular favor to bugs.”

Hordak scoffed indignantly. “I barely know what a _bug_ is, let alone whether or not I’d eat one…”

He had kept his word, naturally, once he was properly persuaded to do so. A couple hours after being awoken, Hordak sat upright on the table, muzzle free. His arms were still cuffed behind his back, the chains glowing with plasma, but he didn’t need them to keep his claws to himself.

Teela stood across from him, holding a journal in one hand and a pen in the other. She looked apprehensive, but she stared just as intently at Hordak as Adam had. It was a different type of gaze, though; where Adam’s had been searching, curious, hers reminded Catra more of a rabbit keeping their eye on a large wolf.

She cleared her throat, clicking her pen once. “Alright… Where do you want to start? Would you like to ask the first questions?”

Hordak tilted his head with mild confusion. “… You simply wish to know my mental state? That’s all?”

She nodded once. “Naturally. I know almost everything about your biology- I’ve dissected hundreds of your Brothers,” She answered coolly.

Hordak gulped. So he’d been right to assume this one was some sort of medical technician. He would need to keep his eye on her.

Teela seemed, at the very least, to know that with great satisfaction. She continued, “Your psychology, however, is a fascinating mystery to all of us. What Prime has done to his clones should be impossible. Sapient creatures are not naturally subservient. Quite the opposite, actually; anything that is capable of higher thought will defy attempts to subjugate it. To rob it of its humanity- the word we use for it- is not possible for the rest of the galaxy without some severe, perpetual use of force. Force that Prime doesn’t need to control his minions.”

“I see… That explains so much about you,” Hordak commented dryly. “Why your kind did not yield, and still don’t.”

Teela hummed, narrowing her eyes. “Eternians are just stubborn.”

Eternians. So he’d been right to assume, based on their heights. In response, Hordak scoffed, turning his head away. “What does that have to do with me? I am defective. I am not the best candidate to study the typical mental state of a clone,” He argued bitterly.

She seemed baffled by his logic. “…Your defectiveness makes you the only one that _has_ a mental state,” Teela said with bewilderment. “The moment the clones are caught, they turn completely catatonic, save for insane screaming about Prime’s glory. They are simply not _allowed_ to have basic sentience without Prime.”

With her pen, she pointed at him. “Except… You. So you are my only chance of understanding what Prime is doing to those poor creatures.” 

Hordak sneered with disgust, lip curling. “Poor creatures? Hardly. They’re soldiers. It’s only through Prime’s light that we have any reason to live or die. I admire my Brothers for their natural dedication to him,” He stated proudly.

“…Do you mean that? What do you feel when you say that?” She asked. She took a step closer, clutching her journal tightly.

Hordak let his prideful expression shift to suspicion once more, hands flexing behind him. “Why does this interest you so? What are you conspiring?”

Teela’s gaze went to her husband briefly, then to the ground below her. “I’m… I’m not going to pretend we’re completely for what The Horde is doing,” She admitted finally.

With an almost battle worn smile, she lifted her head. “But The Horde is making what we’re doing much easier.”

“And that is…?”

“Escaping The Rebellion’s capture,” Adam piped up from his place at the helm. “Gonna find a nice, tiny planet to hide out on. Build a house, maybe get a dog...”

The alien clicked his tongue, a growl of irritation leaving his lips. “That does not answer my question. Why do you wish to know about us clones? I thought we were simply fun to shoot,” Hordak remarked, glaring at Adam.

Teela took a deep breath; the frightened rabbit returned. “Well… Prime came from somewhere. He isn’t a God.”

Before Hordak could yell at her for any sort of slight, she quickly explained. “By that, of course, I mean what he does isn’t a gift of a planet, or any natural power. There are people that are fascinated with discovering where he came from. If he didn’t already destroy his native planet, it would already be long gone. I simply want to know the truth.”

Hordak, instead of being offended, was surprised by her rationality. That wasn’t too dissimilar from his own interests. Learning the truth, simply because he wanted to know it.

He hesitated to speak again. When he did, it was with a lower guard. “… I… Prime has often said that I rejected his gifts, when I was an embryo. It is why my hair turns blue, and my eyes and teeth turn red if I do not have my cleansings.”

The woman smiled softly at the admittance, her ruby eyes warm with familiar sympathy. It made Hordak subtly relax more.

“Would you like to talk more about it?” She offered.

Catra grinned cheekily at Hordak from her place by Adam. It was easy to see why these memories interested Hordak so much. “Though I’m not sure if it’s because of the biology lesson, the therapy, or the pretty lady,” She teased. “… Or the pretty guy. You’re not as straight as you pretend to be.”

Teela still filled Catra with a peculiar feeling. Was it because of the memories? She found she shared particularly powerful emotions with Hordak, like an echo of them. Perhaps the feeling of familiarity was coming from him.

“Hordak, you better show me breaking into this armory!!” Catra called out, now taking this situation with far more bemusement. These were just memories, after all. She wasn’t in any danger, if her translucent form was any indication.

Momentarily, she wondered if Hordak had any memories of _her_ that he’d forgotten. Or, even, memories of her that she didn’t remember.

Like when she was a kitten.

She blinked, the idea hitting her with a sinking feeling of anguish. She’d never asked, because she didn’t want to know. She wanted to blissfully assume that Hordak had just taken her with the rest of the cadets.

But, like Hordak, there was a “before” for her. When Catra thought too long about it, she began to wonder what she’d forgotten as well.

***

The room that the couple provided Hordak was small, containing only a bed, a dresser, and a small desk with a lamp. There was a window by the bed that looked out into space, but the beautiful view was covered by the tail of another ship at that moment.

Still, Hordak seemed surprised by it, looking to the couple with further bewilderment. “… You seem to believe I am not capable of traitorous actions,” He said with a furrowed brow. “Why are you extending these courtesies to me?”

The two looked to each other, exchanging expressions of sheepishness.

“… We… Figured that Horde Prime wouldn’t,” Adam carefully admitted. “We treat you guys how we treat… Y’know. People.”

“Try to, anyways…” Teela mumbled.

Hordak let out a short hum. “You think I won’t consider stabbing you in the back out of _respect_?” He asked, voice verging on threatening.

Adam shook his head, a knowing glint in his toothy smile. “I’ve asked everyone that’s survived a fight with you. You are respectful to a _fault_ ,” He declared. “Besides, you’ll be too busy resting up. I need a 100% 1312 when we’re allowed in. Just hide out down here, and we’ll handle border security.”

Teela gave him a stack of various pants and shirts. “We thought of getting you a few spare sets of clothes. It might be a good idea to wear something less… Horde-chique. Let us know if you need anything, alright?”

They left without another ado. Casually, without even turning around to check if he’d dashed as soon as they’d turned.

The door was wide open. They’d given him permission to roam the lower floor of the ship, as long as he stayed there until they came to retrieve him.

No chains.

Did they honestly expect him not to try and escape? Granted, there still wasn’t a place he could go; however, he imagined he was far too threatening to their lives to be treated with such carefree platitudes.

He looked down at the clothes given to him. His brow furrowed. He felt strangely conflicted. While under normal circumstances, he would follow the humans and tear out their throats...

Honestly, he was so stunned by their treatment of him, he couldn’t find it in him to betray it. Adam was right; he had a code of his own, alongside the one he had for Prime.

He tried not to bite the hand that fed him. Whatever hand that may be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review if you like the story so far! It keeps me motivated to write it, lol.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak learns more about Adam as they steal from one of the most coveted armories in the galaxies.

Hordak felt horribly stupid in human clothes.

He didn't think he looked ridiculous. The humans had spared him more vibrant colors, giving him a black turtleneck and maroon pants like Adam’s. He’d even kept his boots, gloves, and hood. However, putting their clothes on, becoming less similar to Prime… It made him feel as though he was sinking to their level in some way.

Which, certainly, he wasn’t. Hordak was being shanghaied. He was only cooperating because he had no choice but to, out of pure self-preservation. If he wanted to escape Rebellion territory, he would need a ship and a cover. There were gates and armadas on every planet, satellite system, and asteroid colony. He was one of the most wanted enemies of the Rebellion; listed simply as “Horde General”, Hordak would be shot on sight if he was found.

He was beginning to see that his captors were far cleverer than he’d initially given them credit for. Elaborately placing tips to the artifact’s whereabouts, knowing Prime would to send Hordak to quietly extract it… it left him in the perfect position to be jumped. It was an excellent read of Prime’s movements and battle strategy. They claimed to know _him_ , though in what way, he wasn’t completely sure. They fed him information like bread crumbs, implying there was more to keep him interested. 

It was working. He was interested.

He understood why the Rebellion would study the Horde’s ways- he did the same to them, if only the barest amount needed to blend in. However, Adam and Teela held a rather interesting attitude towards him in particular. It seemed to be a purely academic endeavor to them to study his defects, without any desire to obstruct the Horde’s advancement.

If Hordak could believe any humans were neutral to Prime’s ways, it would be those two. Even he could tell they were true oddities of the universe. He’d never seen a woman such as Teela as a medical technician- she seemed far more suited for a battlefield. And then Adam, with his big eyes and animated movements, a historian…?

Hordak rolled his eyes. “Right. And I’m a Princess,” He scoffed. “They're hiding something from me, surely. Fools… Treating me like I’m not the most dangerous creature in all the galaxies… They know nothing about me!”

Except his size, apparently; they no doubt lowered his intelligence, but the clothes he was given were quite comfortable.

“Ugh. Are you done yet?” Catra leaned back through the wall, rolling her eyes as she caught him admiring himself in the bathroom mirror. “You’re worse than Adora… Come onnn, I wanna watch you do more cool stuff!! Why do you care so much about talking to these guys? You know exactly where this is going to lead,” She whined.

Catra phased back into the bathroom, crossing her arms as she spoke to, hopefully, the “real” Hordak on the other side of this one. “You’re going to totally shoot these guys in the back, and make off with their stuff. Classic villain moves, Hordak. You’re not creative.”

She followed him through the lower deck and up the stairs, ears twitching as she began to hear a collection of different noises. As they reached the main room of the ship, they were greeted with the natural light of a late afternoon pouring in through the glass.

Under a hazy, olive sky, a bustling city made of red clay was alive with the sound of jubilant drums. Colorful plumes of smoke and confetti burst into the air on beat. the cheers of the people below called out after each one. Birds that were the size of houses glided lazily beneath their ship, casting shadows over the town with their painted wings. While there was vegetation, it was sparse, confided to growing out of the buildings themselves. Their roots burgeoned and twisted along façades and walls. Large vehicles could be seen in the far distance, moving over the vermillion sand and kicking up thick clouds of dust behind them.

The sound of it all could be heard, even at the altitude they were at. Likewise, ships that were idling near them were also streaming banners, shooting off rounds, and playing music. They’d arrived in the middle of a planet-wide party, it seemed, which was no doubt why it was so easy to sneak in.

However, none of that compared to what was lying just outside the town's borders: an obelisk of diamond, flying a massive, Eternian flag. The crystalline structure gleamed in the fading sunlight, wavering with the hazy atmosphere like a mirage. 

Around it was a small army of ships, robots, and tanks, the Rebellion symbol emblazoned on every inch of their gear and clothing. Despite that, Hordak let out a hiss of delight, only focusing on the obelisk.

The Greyskull Armory: home to the most powerful weapons in the known galaxies. Items only permitted individuals could ever hope to use, stored there after a near millennia of dedicated collection. As an enthusiast and someone with no qualms about stealing from the Rebellion, it’d been a dream of Hordak’s to take his pick from its stock.

He was positively salivating at it, far too distracted to notice his captors were waiting for him already. Catra, however, noticed them immediately; they’d been debating something, their voices mingling together with steadily growing pitches.

Upon Hordak’s entrance, Adam and Teela quieted down, instead arguing in soft, angry whispers. 

“Look, he’s here. Its fine, Teela. Stay here.”

“No, I want to come with you!! I want a new rifle!!”

“Teela, you _can’t_.”

“I’m not _that_ far along, I can still move about!!”

“You know that’s not why I’m telling you to stay here. Please, love, please. I won’t lose you again.”

Catra was caught off guard by the sudden shift in Adam’s voice. So honest and, frankly, _desperate_. He held Teela close to him, looking deeply into her ruby eyes. His fingers clutched her back, digging into the fabric of her jacket; as if, right before his eyes, she would vanish.

“Please, love,” He repeated, barely a whisper.

With a raised brow, Hordak finally took note of the argument in front of him. Mentally, he weighed the consequences of intervening. He wanted to go immediately to Greyskull Armory. He would rather not sit and watch two humans squabble over something so petty, while it sat so beautifully in his vision.

With absolutely no restraint or tact, Hordak stated flatly, “If this conflict is about her pregnancy, I second the notion that she remains here.”

Adam, Teela, _and_ Catra froze completely.

“Unless she wants her spawn to die inside her due to stress or trauma. I’ve heard that’s unpleasant,” Hordak added dryly, fastening his gloves more securely as he spike.

Catra could almost feel her neck burn from the amount of whiplash she just experienced. Her eyes darted to Teela’s abdomen; sure enough, with her jacket open, she had the barest hit of a bump. Catra had to be looking for it to even notice, and that seemed quite purposeful.

Adam recovered first, his entire body shifting into a tense wall between Hordak and Teela. “How did you know that?” He asked calmly, though his voice was devoid of all his usual cheer.

Hordak gestured to his ears. “I can hear it. Humans typically don’t have heartbeats in their stomachs,” He elaborated.

Noticing their sudden mood shift, he tilted his head to one side. “… I have no intentions of hurting the creature,” He reassured, confused why he had to. “I’m not an idiot. That woman is far more capable of defending her spawn from me than you are, Adam.”

Without much shame, he admitted, “I am no match for an Eternian female in direct combat… I’ve fought them before to disastrous results. I won’t do it again.”

Adam still held his arm out, protectively shielding Teela.

“Do you know what it is…?” He asked carefully.

“…A human, I’m _assuming_.”

Hordak blanched, tongue sticking out as he pulled a face. “Oh, is this about that disgusting bimodal _spectrum_ you have? All different types of… _bits_ ,” He hissed, shuddering with a small retch. “I couldn’t care less what it is.”

At Adam’s continued, protective glare, Hordak sneered cruelly. “What, is it a man like you? Worried I’ll rob you of your own clone?” He teased.

He chuckled darkly, seeing the man’s expression shift. “I’ll wait until he’s older. Then I’ll kill him in combat, just like the rest of the Eternian men who dare face me,” He promised, clenching his fist.

The human momentarily processed what he said. When he did, his smile returned tenfold as he burst into a fit of mad laughter. It lasted for a good minute, too; enough time that Hordak felt like he might have said something foolish, but unaware how his threat could be read that way.

“I would _love_ to see you try,” Adam eventually sighed out, wiping a tear from his eye.

Teela, instead of laughing, said nothing, her eyes never leaving Hordak. The rabbit in her eyes was back, once again. Despite her clear fear, she held a strange mix of emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant. She had placed her hand over her stomach, trying to feel the heartbeat the alien had heard for herself.

She submitted upon realizing they both wouldn’t let her go. Frowning, she sat down in the pilot’s seat, sighing softly through her nose as she stared up at the two men.

“Just… Be careful, Adam,” She begged. A small pause of contemplation, and then she added, “Bring me back something that shoots 20 milimeter rounds.”

“You got it. You want me to pick up some milk, too?”

“Oh, _actually_ , I do have a grocery list-”

Hordak groaned impatiently, his head rolling to gaze longingly at Greyskull Armory. Catra, likewise, decided to mimic that desperate look at Hordak, considering _he_ was the real one in charge of stopping this conversation.

In response, Adam clapped him on the back, sending the alien forward a step with a small chirp. “Alright, 1312, we’re going…” He relented, his mood right back to playful.

“Do _not_ call me that. Call me Brother, if you must insist on a name,” Hordak snapped, crossing his arms petulantly.

“Alright. Sorry, Brrrother.”

Before grabbing his blaster and jacket from their place on the captain’s desk, Adam tossed Hordak his blades. “We’re gonna need to snag some Rebellion uniforms, first. Then we can sneak in, take what we want, and get out,” he reviewed. “Hopefully we won’t have to get our hands too dirty… But the Rebellion tends to value overkill.”

Hence giving him his weapons back, Hordak realized with a smirk. “Ah. I see. _This_ is why you need my help.”

Adam smirked back, eyes narrowing. “Well. Y’know. Do what you do best.”

***

It was relatively easy to find Rebellion soldiers on the ground, even despite the throngs of people that moved through the streets. As they tried to pick out a pair that matched their height and width, Hordak noted silently that the Rebellion maintained quite the presence. Even with drinks in their hands, they still held their blasters at the ready on their backs. The locals tended to keep their heads down when they passed, their smiles nervous when addressed.

Adam regarded them with a scowl. “Nobody will miss these bastards, Brother. Don’t feel bad about killing them.”

“Oh, I never do. I think so little of you simple humans already.”

Hordak said that, but even he was mildly taken aback by the behavior of some of the Rebellion’s men. One soldier simply took from a stand, ignoring the vendor as he begged for his agreed coin. Though it was unnoticed by Adam, Catra could feel the pit of guilt in Hordak’s stomach at the sight of the satyr’s despaired expression. He refrained from assisting, however, and Catra could assume that would be true no matter what he was doing.

“This is a side of the Rebellion I’ve never seen… I’m used to this reaction to the Horde’s occupations,” Hordak mused. “Not from Rebellion protected planets.”

Adam scoffed bitterly. “This _is_ an occupation,” He bit out. With narrowed eyes, he spotted two soldiers that matched them both well enough. He waved his hand, gesturing for Hordak to follow him through the thriving crowds.

The burning of Adam’s fiery, blue gaze settled squarely on the symbol on their backs- two lions holding a skull, surrounded by laurels. The symbol for Eternia- the Grayskull.

“Right now, the Rebellion is just the Eternian Empire, growing in tandem to The Horde.” Adam’s voice held a particular bite and chill, sharper than some of the iciest tundras. “Way before I was born, they’ve been using the fact that the Horde is growing to bring planets into their fold. Once people think that they’re going to be safe, free, happy…”

The two soldiers also begin to tail someone- a young woman, walking alone. Adam’s jaw clenched tightly. “ _This_ is how they treat them,” He growled. His scowl marred his usually handsome features.

“With The Horde, you fear death. It’s simple. With the Eternians… They might do _worse_ , just because it might benefit them.”

Hordak hummed softly, briskly keeping pace as the crowd began to thin out. “But… The Rebellion is for the universe being populated with life above all else. I apologize, Adam, I don’t understand. Is that not necessary?” He asked, eyes darting from the human to the soldiers.

“What’s _necessary_ is for the Rebellion to stop the Horde from blowing up planets… Not for the remaining Eternians to steal the resources from everyone else, leaving everything else to rot. It’s opportunistic greed.”

As they reached a sparsely populated area of the city, they found they lost sight of their targets. Adam cursed softly, head on a swivel as he tried to spot them again.

Hordak perked up at the sound of a shrill cry. He nudged Adam and pointed to an alley just ahead. Silently, they rounded the corner, just as the Rebellion soldiers were advancing on the woman with grabbing hands.

At the sight, Adam suddenly marched ahead, leaving Hordak at the mouth of the alley to balk at him.

“Wh-?”

Before the Rebellion soldier could open his mouth, Adam socked him square in the jaw, sending the man to his feet with a loud grunt. Hordak, hissing an exasperated garble of Adam’s name, moved quickly after him, pouncing on the other soldier and throwing him further into the alley.

The soldier caught himself quickly. He spun around and swung at him with a baton, but Hordak easily bat it away and kneed him in the gut. He then elbowed the Rebellion soldier to the ground, placing his boot on his back to keep him still. Despite the man’s valiant struggling, Hordak was larger than him, and his weight alone was enough to keep him pinned.

He waited. When the woman’s footsteps vanished around the corner, their witness too spooked to do anything but run, he finished the soldier off. Hordak twisted the human’s neck, snapping it with a small crack.

Looking over, he could see Adam was having trouble with the other one. His soldier had a stun baton, and had managed to unsheathe it. Though undisciplined, the furious manner it was being swung had Adam dodging and weaving his strikes with bouncing feet.

With a sigh, Hordak rose from the ground, drew one of his blades, and tossed it. With pinpoint accuracy, it planted itself in the back of the other human’s skull, pinning them to the clay wall and killing them immediately.

“Oh, come on, man, I totally had that!!” Adam whined.

Hordak looked horribly irritated. “My apologies. You rushed ahead so brashly, I felt compelled to ‘do what I do best’,” He snapped, already getting to work removing the armor he needed before the blood stained it.

“What, that didn’t piss you off? Only Gods know what they were going to do!”

“That is none of my concern. I would have preferred to wait until they were done, when they would be their most vulnerable.”

Adam’s face shifted from anger to fury. He grabbed Hordak’s hood, yanking the alien to face him as he held him by it. “You need to watch your fucking mouth, Brother. I may not be a good guy, but I am _not_ a bad one. We help people if we can, or no artifact. Got it?” He demanded.

He was deathly serious. Both Hordak and Catra could tell that.

Hordak sighed deeply with exasperation. His head tilted up to the sky, as if wishing for Horde Prime to simply strike him where he stood. “Fine,” He bit out. “But you’re an idiot, and this behavior makes me seriously question the success rate of this mission.”

Quickly, the two slipped the Rebellion armor over their clothes. This time, Hordak actually felt stupid, in the sense that he felt absolutely ridiculous. He was forced to hide his entire face, feeling like an even bigger freak with large, reflective googles over his red eyes.

“Aww, you look like a dragonfly-“

“Shut up.”

Odd as Hordak looked, it was enough to fool the caravan that stopped to pick the two of them up. The drunk, rowdy soldiers riding in the bed of the vehicle were too ecstatic to notice their comrades seemed off.

Hordak cringed at their chants of, “Fuck The Horde” and “Die, Horde Scum, Die”. This was hardly the most ideal group to surround himself with; he pulled his mask more securely onto his face.

Instead of the noise and rabble, Hordak’s attentions had decided to settle on Adam. At least the man was only cheering whenever he was directly addressed.

No matter where Hordak looked on the man, he always returned to Adam’s blue eyes. They resembled the sky on Eternia so vividly, he was surprised the soft, pink clouds didn’t float through his irises. His hair, likewise, resembled their fields, so vast and peaceful.

He had only seen the implication of that peace. When Hordak was a part of the final invasion, all of it had been war torn and desolate, filled with broken robots and dead clones. Only the ghost of its beauty had been there to greet him when his feet touched their ground.

Had Adam seen that? Perhaps not. If he had, his restraint was impressive; if Hordak had been in Adam’s position, he would have killed him immediately.

Adam was a unique human. One that Hordak found himself growing less and less hostile towards, purely against his will. His hatred of the Rebellion spoke of deeper thought than he’d initially given him credit for. To refuse to bow to either was a bold choice- one Hordak had yet to see a human make. Even the greatest criminals in the universe aligned themselves with the Horde for access to their conquered worlds.

But Adam wished to be neither Eternian nor Horde. He was simply… Adam.

***

It was hardly a challenge for Hordak to mimic the Rebellion’s movement patterns. Many of them were unorganized recruits from neighboring planets. They were also moving in equal parts to and from the city, giving the pair another sea of bodies to vanish into.

The Eternians were clearly marked by their gleaming armor, standing proudly in front of the haggard lines of soldiers as they were forced to organize to be checked into their barracks. Hordak could deduce in a moment where he would need to stand to avoid their ire, how to walk with little pride and great exhaustion.

Adam followed his lead. “When we get in, the ventilation system should take us straight to the armory safe,” he muttered into Hordak’s shoulder. “I’m going to need you to create some sort of distraction.”

“Any special requests?” Hordak asked coyly.

“Mental breakdown, preferably. Dramatic enough that it needs private attention, but subtle enough that they let me do it. Your motivation is ‘not getting shot’, and your character is a fishman with a horrible face disfiguration.”

“Hm… I’m no actor, but I suppose this does fall into my talents. I have seen anguish enough to know how to recreate it.”

The massive gates of the armory opened up, allowing three sets of platoons to march through. The room was, in stark contrast to its crystalline face, a mix of greys and blues, the interior lacking the glamour of its outside.

Adam and Hordak separated, not wanting to be caught by too many eyes together; they joined different groups of ten. In front of them, the Eternians stood at attention, though appeared about as bored as a human being could be. It deeply amused Hordak, to be standing among them while they remained so willingly oblivious. The discipline was truly lacking in the Rebellion, as of late.

As they were put at ease for a head count, Adam nonchalantly moved into Hordak’s line of sight. When they locked eyes, he gave him a short nod as the go-ahead.

Hordak suddenly _howled_ , sending Catra two feet off the ground in sheer terror.

“NO, MY FAMILY… THE HORDE, HOW COULD THEY- THE MEMORIES, THE _PAIN_ -!!!” Hordak blubbered. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as he faked loud, agonizing sobs. “Damn you, Horde… Monsters…!”

An Eternian commander had approached as Hordak doubled over, his sobs making them wince and pick at their ear. "What’s the problem here, cadets?” They deadpanned.

Adam rushed to Hordak’s side, then, patting his back sympathetically. “He recently lost his husband. It’s super tragic. You mind if I take him to the bathrooms? His face is, uh…”

He leaned in, sucking air through his teeth. “It’s really bad. _Especially_ when he cries.”

The commander’s face scrunched up with distaste. “Please. His mental breakdown is interrupting the head count.”

“Thanks! Come on, Kyle, let’s get you some tissues for your nose holes…”

Catra scoffed out a laugh, watching them flawlessly make their way further into the armory. “All those guards, and you can’t stop two people. No wonder a bunch of teenagers had to save you guys…” She griped, following after them.

Where Hordak and Adam had to climb into a vent to navigate the structure undetected, Catra could simply follow them by walking through the walls. She doubted she was missing much; Adam had immediately begun bullying Hordak again the very second they were in the confined space. The alien was, once again, having none of it.

Most of the space she went through was simply white void, without any detail. They were there, logically, but Hordak neither saw them nor cared to remember anything aside from their general existence.

In the void, Catra saw something flash: a soft, purple glow. Like the blink of a lighthouse, even. It appeared every few seconds, growing more frequent as it continued unanswered.

“Entrapta!!” She cried, realizing with a start what the light was. She was inside Hordak’s mind- that was the magic that bound Hordak to Entrapta as her husband.

She was reaching out to him.

“Hey, Hordak!! Your wife is calling you!!! Put this on pause, dude, we’ve got to get out of here-!!”

Catra poked her head into the vents, catching sight of Hordak and Adam huddled around a large duct. Hordak was unscrewing the hatch, his goggles moved up to his forehead and his mask pulled down as he worked. Adam held a light for him, his own disguise removed as he wiped sweat from his temples.

“Will you tell me why we’re really here, now that we’re almost at our location?” Hordak asked casually, completely unbothered by the humid air of the vent. “You have been elusive about your intentions this entire time.”

“Well… I’m looking for a specific sword. It was confiscated by the Rebellion the last time we met, so I’m just taking it back,” Adam explained with a shrug.

“A specific sword…? Is it magic?” Hordak narrowed his eyes.

“You’ll see when I get it back.”

“You didn’t say it was _magic_ , Adam. I am repulsed by magic.”

“Brother, I swear to you, I do not have a drop of magical ability in my body. You could even use it, if you said the right words. The sword does all the work.”

Two bolts later, the latch swung open with a creak. Adam swung his lower half down to check for guards. He was gone for only a moment; when he lifted his head, he was beaming.

“Coast is clear. Hehe, I knew it’d be lax around this time… This planet is celebrating its fertility season. Everyone is either out in the town partying, drunk, or bumpin’ it in their barracks.”

Hordak stiffened, disgusted by the mental image. “… That is… Rather lax. I wonder what could make them that comfortable, leaving all these weapons so unguarded…” He mused.

“Oh, relax!! I know these idiots like the back of my hand. They think that as long as the Horde isn’t around, nothing can touch them. They never notice guys like us stealing their stuff until it’s too late.”

Catra whined lowly as they dropped down in to the room. She dropped back down as well, checking for the purple glow.

Gone. Entrapta had given up.

Catra sighed worriedly, her shoulders slumping. The more she saw Hordak grow comfortable around Adam, the more weight she felt build in her heart.

This was going to end _badly_. It was inevitable. Didn’t Hordak understand that? Why was he so focused on Adam?

“Dude, please tell me this is not what I think it is…” She growled. “You can’t just hide in your memories, Hordak!! If you and Entrapta are fighting, running into the arms of a blonde beefcake is not going to make you feel better!! Trust me!!”

Still nothing.

Crying out with frustration, she finally followed after Hordak and Adam, storming through walls of void. She stopped only when she came across an actual floor- dark, grey tile etched with quartz. Absurdly, space warped around her, taking her directly to Hordak no matter what elevation he was on or his distance from her. When she walked through the wall, she appeared right behind him as if stepping out of thin air.

Before the trio was a Great Library of weapons. From autocannons to zweihänders, every type of killing machine lined shimmering walls and display tables. There was far more than what they could immediately see, some shelves hiding corridors to other sections. The room itself held an ethereal aura, with its furniture comprised of diamond and quartz, the lights dying its guest in a pink haze.

“I-I am experiencing something most incredible…” Hordak stammered, barely containing the soft chirps and clicks he made with his throat. “Wh-What is this feeling…?”

Adam pat him on the back. “I’m gonna say that’s ‘childlike delight’. Go nuts.”

As if Hordak needed permission. He rushed into the room as Adam shot out the cameras, the alien trilling like mad as he tried to figure out what he could take. He was carrying the bag, after all.

“Let me know if you find the sword. You’ll know it when you see it,” Adam called, nonchalantly standing where he was. He seemed content to watch Hordak act like a child, his expression rather fond.

Catra stood next to him, staring him down with a keen eye. “You’re even weirder than Hordak, you know. He’s not going to turn good, just because you take him on a few field trips. Trust me… This guy is still pretty bad for another ten or twenty years.”

She assumed it would be that long. Hordak had told her that, in Etherian years, he was about forty. This Hordak looked older than her, but not by much. She’d put him around early twenties, judging by the sprightliness to Hordak’s steps.

Actually- more than sprightly, now. This was the first time Catra had ever seen Hordak move with such agility. It was honestly impressive; he swept the massive room in less than ten minutes, swinging from the light fixtures to cross over large gaps and sliding down banisters rather than taking the stairs. He snatched weapons as he went, seemingly at random. Catra couldn’t see exactly what he was grabbing from her place on the first level, but she could see the bag slowly gaining more and more weight as it was swung about.

“Adam!! Adam!! I think I found it!!!” Hordak exclaimed, leaning over the railing of the second level with glittering, ruby eyes.

The human perked up. “My sword?” He asked hopefully.

“…Your-? OH. Right. I was supposed to be looking for that, wasn't I...? No, I found _my_ sword. Come and look, it’s _beautiful_ -!!”

Adam let out a huff, but nonetheless hurried to the stairs to see what Hordak was gushing about. He remained vigilant, expecting company at any time.

Catra let out a squeak, charging ahead of Adam with wide steps. She knew exactly what sword Hordak was talking about.

Surrounded by warning signs, the sword rested under a case made of dark glass. It was nearly Hordak’s full height, though he would still be able to rest his chin on it. The blade itself was thin, one-sided, and meteor grey, a single vein of glowing, magenta energy following its elegant form. Its handle was bound in thread that almost seemed to pulse, with how the light shone over it.

Catra recognized it immediately. Though it was in one piece, now, that was the sword Hordak had given her to hold at the wedding. He’d held it so fondly, and made her swear not to drop it. It was something she knew Hordak cared deeply about…

But when she’d asked him why, his face had become strained, and he looked mildly disoriented. He said he didn’t remember where he got it; just that he had it when he was transported to Etheria. He’d kept it solely in the hopes it would spark a memory in him.

Had that just been a lie? Catra scowled at the implication. Just when she thought she could trust him, he openly lied to her about things that are clearly significant to him.

Great. Nice to know some things hadn’t changed between them.

Adam took special, amused interest in the faintest bit of magic that emanated from the magenta strip. “Changed your mind that quickly?” He teased, quirking a brow.

Hordak blushed lightly, jerking his head away from the human. “It’s perfect for my height, made with lightweight materials,” He defended.

“Oh yeah? It suits your aesthetic, too.”

“I don’t have an aesthetic.”

“Yeah, _okay_ , Brother. Sure.”

Adam broke the glass of the display with his elbow, allowing Hordak to pluck it out with a wave of his hand. Hordak held it almost reverently, smile growing excited as he turned it lightly in his hands. He could feel the barest tingle in his fingertips, the sensation pulsing not uncomfortably through the veins in his arm.

The alien cocked his head to the side, a little surprised by how he didn’t completely hate the feeling of its energy flowing into him. “Fascinating… This is magic?” He asked, dumbfounded.

“Dark magic. Not a lot- the plaque says the blade has the ability to be completely silent, and grows stronger when it’s… Well, _dark_. The magic is just an enhancement,” Adam elaborated, reading the hologram that hovered off to the side. “Looks like it’s been fully charged, too.”

Hordak’s hair stood on end as he gave a few practice swings, marveling at the absolute silence the blade produced. “I see… Perhaps there is a utility for magic, after all…” He trailed off. “If it can be trapped in useful items like swords, that is.”

“It seems to like you.”

Adam hummed lightly, leaning back a bit as he studied both the blade and Hordak. “…You might be attractive to magic, actually,” He pointed out.

It was Hordak’s turn to laugh. “I highly doubt that. Magic is a natural force, where the Horde are perfect creatures made from our superior technology. We are not spellcasters,” He argued.

“Well, hang on. Teela was a little misleading before, about magic’s origin. It doesn’t just come from planets. It’s a renewable resource in the Universe with certain places it manifests,” He explained, starting down the hall. “It’s got its own properties, and has its own conditions to be met in order to concentrate it.”

Hordak was mentally taking notes as they continued to hunt for Adam’s sword; he’d never heard magic from the perspective of a creature that knew it so intimately, like humans did.

“We’re all sensitive to it; some of us more than others, and some of us in different ways. You can never be able to cast a single spell, but magic could stick to you like glue,” Adam elaborated further as they ventured deeper into the warehouse. With a coy smile, he noted the way the blade seemed to move fluidly with Hordak- as if it was working in tandem with him.

Curious, he held out his hand, silently asking to hold it. Hordak squinted at him suspiciously; eventually, though, he gave it to him.

As it dropped into Adam’s hands, the sword let out a sharp, stinging jolt of energy that made the human gasp. He immediately passed it back to Hordak, laughing a little as he winced and shook his hands free of the sensation. “See? Magic is alive, in some chaotic sense… In the way atoms are alive, for a comparison,” He concluded. “It’s not silly to reason it could be attracted to you, but Prime’s manipulation has shut you off from its application.”

Hordak’s eyes widened slightly. He looked down his hands as if he’d never seen them before. He had so much that was bionic about him- his bones, his organs, his circulatory system, and even part of his brain. He rarely thought he could have any connection to something natural. Until a few moments ago, that had been something that would have repulsed him.

Now, however…

“Truly fascinating... I had no idea it was something so concrete.” He gazed at his sword with a new perspective. He had been told countless times by Horde Prime that magic was incomprehensible and random, meant as a savage’s last resort against modernity and perfection. Yet, the more he thought about all his fights with Princes, Princesses, and other spellcasters... He realized several things.

They had rules. They had stamina. There was _order_ to it, like a science.

Which lined up far more accurately to what _Adam_ was claiming.

Adam hummed, his head on a swivel as they paused to get their bearings. “Oh, yeah. Man, the things Teela and I could tell you about how the Universe _really_ works…” He trailed off.

That gave the alien a reason to leave his own thoughts. “…You would divulge that to me?” Hordak was surprised. Touched, even. “Why? Why do you believe I am worthy of that?”

Adam turned to him calmly. His smile was sympathetic; kindly, even. “That’s why. You believe what I’m saying is true information. You trust it. You _want_ to know what I, a lowly human, know already… Because you think I might be right.”

He crossed his arms, chin tilting down as he stared at Hordak rather pointedly.

“You don’t believe anything Horde Prime says, do you?” He asked. It was said almost rhetorically; as if Adam already knew the answer to it.

Hordak reeled back, nearly dropping his new blade. “What are you talking about?!” He growled, nose scrunched up as he snarled. It wasn’t anger, though, that he was feeling. Catra knew that tone in his voice- like he’d been caught.

“I-I am the most _devoted_ -!!“ He began.

“No you’re not,” Adam cut him off sharply, closing the short distance between them. “You know you’re not. You say what Horde Prime tells you to say, but you don’t mean it. You’re just… going through the motions,” Adam accused. His expression wasn’t cruel, nor was it aggressive. It was more challenging, demanding that Hordak acknowledge what he was telling him with honesty.

Tilting his head side to side, Adam studied the alien’s face. “I see it on every image of you. I see it in the way you say Horde Prime’s name like a prayer, and then openly defy his strict rules. The way you say with your mouth that you love him… But your eyes look elsewhere, to all the pretty things that he hates.” 

Hordak was progressively getting more agitated, his hands shaking as he trembled. “You’re… lying…” He breathed, head lowering. “You’re lying.”

“You know I’m not. You’re holding one of those pretty things, right now,” Adam shot back, his eyebrows narrowing.

At Hordak’s increasing distress, Adam paused, biting his lip as he looked around quickly. The longer they stayed there, the more they risked getting caught.

“Listen. This may be jumping the gun, but- Brother, I know that there is a _reason_ you are the way you are. And I know that you could be capable of greater things than what Prime wants from you,” He said, voice gentle and reassuring as he put his hand on his shoulder.

He watched Hordak shake his head aggressively, throwing his arm away with a swat.

“… I want you to have this conversation in your mind, when you hear what Mara has to say to you,” Adam demanded lowly. “And I do want you to _listen_ to her, when she speaks to you.”

“To _me_?” He scoffed bitterly. “What could the fallen She-Ra have to say to a random clone born a thousand years after her death?”

“The _truth_ , Brother. Trust me.”

Hordak growled, his frustrations reaching a boiling point. “No, tell me now!! I want to know right-!!”

**_BZZZZZZZZZRT!!!_ **

**_“ALERT. HORDE DETECTED. CODE RED. CODE GOLD.”_ **

Adam blinked owlishly as a siren began to fill the echoing halls of the safe, the lights switching to emergency as the power was cut off.

“… Huh. Do you think I’m Code Red, or Code-?”

With a booming crash behind them, a wall of weapons toppled, kicking up dust and large puffs of wasted magic. Amalgamations of animal and android crawled out of a large hole made in the floor, their bodies whirring and clicking as they emerged.

Three, giant sandworms with four legs each installed into their sides loomed over the trio, their eyes replaced with large, crystalline lenses. They moved blindly, their roars high-pitched and distressed as electric shocks ran through their pale, yellow flesh.

Catra’s jaw dropped at the sight of them. She was the closest; under their shadows, the behemoths of cybernetic prowess dwarfed her. Their weight alone broke the tile beneath their stilted feet.

These were nothing like the Guardians she’d seen on Etheria. While terrifying, those weren’t absolute bastardizations of life like _this_.

“THAT’S NEW!!” Adam shouted, drawing his blaster. “They did NOT have that when I worked here!!”

Hordak grabbed the collar of Adam’s jacket, yanking the man into moving his feet. Once focusing on the sound of their movement, the creatures began their pursuit, carelessly knocking over priceless weapons in their attempt to kill the two intruders.

A proper warning to find cover came in the form of a whirring sound, steadily growing in octave- the charging of a blast.

They ducked behind a shelf as they barely dodged a beam of plasma, the floor they were standing on moments ago completely vaporized. Adam let out a squeak, eyes wide as plates. “This is madness… What has he been _doing_ …?” He muttered, breathing ragged as he tried to recover. “How are we going to-“

He’d looked over to Hordak, only to find the space he was supposed to be in empty.

His golden skin paled significantly. “Shit. No, don’t you dare run from me!!” He hissed, scrambling to his feet.

Another ear-piercing screech filled the air. When Adam rounded the corner, he found Hordak _riding_ one of the behemoths, stabbing its back with savage ferocity.

Catra had watched with utter amazement as Hordak crept up on them, scaling the shelves and hopping them with catlike grace. Hordak’s movements were particularly unique, as he moved without a single bit of panic or apprehension. As if it wasn’t possible for him to fall or to be eaten alive by the creatures, he was patient in his approach until it was time to strike. As such, the behemoths were confused by the silence. They were sitting ducks for him to descend upon with an almost careful leap that he ennunciated with violent fury.

Adam watched him work with a satisfied nod. “… Or that. You could do that, too.”

Hordak held on tight with his new blade and short sword, both stabbed deep into the worm’s flesh as he was jerked around violently. “A little help, perhaps?!” He begged, voice betraying his actual terror as he glared at the useless human beneath him.

Letting out a ragged grunt, Hordak released his short sword and heaved his body off the creature. With his hand still gripping his new blade, he dragged it vertically down its side as he dropped to the floor, sending blood and innards gushing out in a torrent of yellow. The behemoth screamed in anguish, thrashing and flailing as it collapsed in a heap of metal and flesh.

Adam only gave Hordak a thumbs-up. “Keep them busy, while I get my sword!! You’re doing great!!!” He cried, grinning ear-to-ear as he took off in a seemingly random direction.

Hordak squawked indignantly, rolling quickly as an iron leg attempted to squash him.

“Damn you, human!! Don’t you dare leave me!!” He growled with frustration in-between heavy breaths, his legs shaking as he forced himself to his feet once again. The Rebellion armor he was wearing was coated in yellow blood, the liquid emitting an odor that made his eyes water.

Already, he felt his body beg for rest; with the other two behemoths fast approaching, however, he couldn’t.

He protested his own exhaustion, sending his legs into motion as he was pursued.

Catra whined loudly, gripping her head as she watched him dodge legs and lasers. Obviously, the more rational part of her knew that Hordak would live through this. But still, she was panicking a bit, seeing him in so much peril. She wanted to help him. The creatures didn’t look _that_ deadly-

The leg of one of the monstrosities suddenly stabbed down. Had Catra been material, it would have completely impaled her.

She gulped, sweating bullets as she backed away from the fight. “No, it’s cool. I don’t need to help. I’m okay with watching,” she squeaked.

Hordak evaded a leg and severed it in a single, spinning motion, cutting through the metal like butter. The sword had yet to fail him; in fact, he was starting to understand what Adam meant by attraction. He could almost _hear_ the magic within, pleased to be held by someone talented.

“Alright,” He relented, addressing the blade alone. “I’m listening.”

To his wonderous surprise, the energy within the blade glowed brilliantly, revealing hairline-thin veins of red within the metal of the sword. Quite suddenly, it was _much_ heavier.

Without Hordak noticing, one behemoth had saved its shot. It fired a beam of light directly at him, tearing up grey tile as it neared his place on the ground. Instinctively, Hordak held the blade out flat in front of him to block it.

Instead of being vaporized, the blade absorbed the beam, sending it right back at the behemoth. The blast quite literally _deleted_ its upper half in a blinding flash of light.

He openly gawked at it. “I… I see. You make a valid point, my friend,” He remarked with a surprised huff, smoothing his hair back.

He still wasn’t done; one more behemoth remained, and it looked absolutely feral. It thrashed its body over the loss of its kin, slamming into shelves in its mad hunt for the tiny alien that killed them.

Hordak was losing stamina far too quickly; his speed was dropping every time he was forced to bolt or dash. With a loud cry, he was finally pinned to the floor by a leg. “Adam!!” He called, heart pounding in his chest as he watched another leg raise up. “Adam, help me!!!” 

Right as Hordak began to wonder if he’d been abandoned, there was a great, hearty laugh, heard deep within the vault.

“I found my sword!”

A beam of gold light cascaded over Hordak’s head in a great arc, glinting like every star in the galaxy. His breath was stolen at the sheer sight of it, in awe at its brilliance. Inexplicably, he was reminded of those peaceful fields and skies once aain.

Eternia- a planet that ran so deep with magic, some said it was the birthplace of it. 

The golden light cleaved the final beast, screeching and howling, in two. Along with the behemoth, it eviscerated everything behind it- including the wall of the obelisk itself. Natural light poured into the room as the massive hole exposed their escape route, filling the vault with a blood-orange glow.

Hordak followed the trail of destruction the single swing had made to its origin, scrambling to his feet as the human came into his view.

Adam’s sword was elegant, hilted with pure gold. From it, a powerful bloom of wild, untamed magic poured uncontrollably; the spectrum of it colors was so vast, they blended together in a vibrant rainbow. The blade itself was about Adam’s forearm length, tapered, and pure white, shimmering with a pearly gleam along its Eternian runes.

Threads of magic entwined around Adam’s arm, squeezing it with an almost spiteful force. While the colors were beautiful, the magic was steadily causing his bare skin of his hand to turn red. It shook with the effort it took not to drop the sword, and the sword was punishing him for not dropping it by continuing to burn his bare skin.

Adam’s form had changed, somewhat; his hair had turned the same golden sheen as the magic the blade produced. His blue eyes were glowing like lanterns. His clothes, burned away to the shoulder, revealed golden bracers lined with white fur. A crown of fire attempted to manifest itself, but wasn’t capable of resting peacefully around his temples. Flames striked at Adam’s cheeks like snakes, cutting them with the tiniest nicks.

Hordak knew this magic like a pit of dread in his gut. He’d seen it when Eternia had fallen; their King, Randor, had wielded it to protect his family against The Horde’s invasion. He’d used it to create portals, like The Horde could, to hide them.

Realizing with a start who Adam was, he backed away carefully. “You… You’re… You’re a _Prince_ ,” He stammered, almost hurtfully, clutching his sword tightly. “You’re _the_ Prince. Prince Adam of Eternia.”

Adam winced harshly. “Ah… I used to be,” He admitted, voice shaky with his pain.

He dropped the sword, then, unable to take the forces acting against him any longer. Immediately, the magic vanished, returning his form to normal. Save for, of course, his sleeve and several burns along his face and right hand.

He was also drained of his energy; he collapsed to his knees, gasping and clutching his wounded arm close to his body. “I… I told you. I know you,” He said quietly, looking up at Hordak through his strawberry blonde bangs.

Hordak’s ears twitched at the sight. He hesitated to assist him, now, knowing that Adam was more than just a simple human.

 _Him_. A Prince. He felt foolish for not seeing it before.

He took a deep breath. When he closed his eyes, he still saw Adam’s burnt arm, the pain of it appearing like a phantom over his own.

To Catra’s utter amazement, Hordak put his own sword into his bag, his frown growing determined. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he walked calmly to Adam’s side.

“… Do you promise me you’ll tell me the truth, Adam?” He asked, brows furrowing. His eyes darted between the human and the magical blade.

Adam smiled hopefully, his hand coming to rest gently on his shoulder. “Of course, Brother. I’m respectful to a fault, too,” He promised.

At that, Hordak nodded. He helped Adam to his feet.

The burns had been red and irritated a moment ago; now, they were pink. Still raw, but Adam had yet to cause permanent damage. “I’m alright… It’s mostly just awful during and right after touching the sword,” He reassured, giving another thumbs-up with the blistered hand.

Still, Hordak was the one to collect Adam’s sword from the ground. With his gloves on, it was a simple shortsword made of iron and silver. Rather dull, even.

“We need to get out of here,” Hordak reminded, briskly placing the sword with the rest of his weapons. His attentions focused on the hole in the obelisk, eyes narrowing as he thought.

“I’m assuming you know how to drive.”

Adam perked up at the question, smirking deviously.

“I know where you’re going. I like it.”

***

The vehicle lot behind Greyskull Armory was barren when they came upon it. Adam’s swipe had caused the debris of the obelisk to crush most of the transportation, leaving them with a four-wheeled tank as their only option.

At least, Catra _thought_ they were tanks. They weren’t armored like them, but they were certainly not the wooden carts she was used to seeing. Where were the horses?

Adam broke the window of the tank with a rock, unlocking it by sticking his uninjured arm through and flipping a latch on the inside. The human threw open the door, and was about to climb in. However, Hordak stopped him with a hand.

“Allow me,” The alien offered, tapping the back of his neck. Instead, Hordak crawled into the driver’s seat, searching for the control panel hidden in the floorboard. When he found it, he tore the paneling off in his haste, sifting through the wires that burst out from it for the one he needed.

“What are you doing? Hacking it?” Adam asked hurriedly, keeping his blaster at the ready in his uninjured hand.

Hordak scoffed at the apish description. “No. I am using my neural port to connect with the mainframe of the vehicle, in order to gain full function and knowledge of it. Obviously…” He grumbled, yanking out a black cord with an end that matched his port. Without hesitation, He screwed it into the back of his neck, eyes screwing closed as he connected to the tank’s software.

“…So you’re hacking it?”

“Shut up.”

They were interrupted by bullets striking the sand near the wheels, sending Adam stumbling back against the tank with a curse. A caravan of vehicles and robots had rounded the obelisk, the turrets resting on their backs pointed right at them. Their stealth had been blown the moment the alarm had been triggered; now they were properly spotted.

“What’s happen- OOF!!”

Without warning, Adam climbed directly on top on Hordak and sat on him, pulling the door as closed as he could for cover as the firefight engaged. “Hurry up!! The door’s only gonna block the bullets for so long!!” He cried, shooting back through the broken window.

Hordak’s expression was livid, teeth bared as his eyes flashed, both with his irritation and the information being downloaded to his skull. He was starting to seriously lose his patience with Adam’s idiotic brashness.

With the added distraction of Adam’s entire weight on his back mostly ignored, he downloaded what he needed, turning the vehicle on with practically the same brain wave. “There, done!! Get the hell off me, you imbecile!” He snapped, trying to throw the human.

Adam rolled into the passenger’s seat as Hordak sat up, snickering all the while at the other’s fussing. “Come on. Is someone not having fun?” He teased, deciding _now_ was a great time to harass the alien once more.

“Ohhh, I’ll have _fun_ when I can safely slice your tongue off without being interrupted,” Hordak hissed threateningly.

“I’m gonna tell Teela you said that.”

Hordak paused in his shift of the gear, eyeing him as if he was gauging whether he actually would.

“… Please don’t.”

Catra climbed into the passenger’s seat, looking around curiously as her ears twitched. “Holy shit, this is so cool. Can we get these on Etheria? I want a big one like the Rebellion has,” she cooed.

On all sides, Hordak was being harassed. There was no escape for the poor alien, even in his own mind.

Catra didn’t have time to bother him properly; she was literally jerked from her thoughts as Hordak slammed his foot on the acceleration, tearing out of the lot and into the barren wasteland behind the rocks.

They weren’t alone. Following behind like an escort, a small army of four-wheeled tanks slowly gained on them.

Adam threw open the sunroof, letting out a cry of distress at the lack of a turret. “Are you kidding!? How am I supposed to shoot these bastards back if I don’t have a gun!?” He whined. He’d rather he use his sword sparingly, for obvious reasons.

Hordak was already dialing for the ship, fingers flying over the panel as he kept his eyes on the horizon and their pursuers. “My bag, Adam- I think you’ll find something quite useful.” He also passed Adam his goggles, knowing he’d need them more than he.

With gleaming eyes, the human donned the goggles and withdrew what, to Catra, looked to be a tangled mess of metal. “Aww, did you get this for Teela? That’s so nice of you that you remembered!!” Adam cooed.

Hordak flushed lightly, grumbling something about paying attention and fearing for his life. “I like her more than you. She’s not as stupid,” Hordak spoke more pronounced, but still curtly. “The plasma rounds for it are in the silver tin; I highly recommend you use them with caution.”

“I’m gonna tell her you got it. You’re taking the credit for this,” Adam continued to tease. With the contraption in his safe hand, he heaved his upper half through the sunroof. Hordak drove steadily, making it easy for him to begin setting up.

With almost casual, practiced ease, Adam unfolded and shifted the metal with several clicks until it resembled a thin cannon. He slid it into place on the roof, using its handles to balance himself as Hordak veered around a rock formation.

With that bit of cover to buy him time, Adam loaded one shot, pulling a lever on the side with a harsh grunt. When he saw their company swerve around the rocks, he fired at them, one eye squeezed shut in concentration.

The plasma round exploded in a ball of green energy, toppling rocks over tanks and sending several vehicles off their wheels in a massive pileup.

While the dust had given Adam hope that he’d gotten them all in one shot, he was dismayed to see that, in fact, his number of pursuers had grown. They began firing at their tank again in a volley of plasma rounds and bullets, striking the sand at their wheels and the back of their vehicle in a trail of sparks and dust. 

Hordak grinned at the chaos through the reflection of a side mirror. “Mediocre,” He called up to Adam. “Try actually hitting them with one, this time.”

“Drive better, then!!” Adam shot right back with a wolfish grin of his own, cocking the plasma cannon to engage once more with the Rebellion.

A small beep caught Hordak’s attention- he’d finally gotten through to Teela.

“Adam?” Came her trembling voice from the console. “Is that you?”

“No, but you can breathe easy regardless,” Hordak said tensely. “Adam is a bit busy right now.”

She gasped. “Oh!! Is that you guys in the truck, driving into the wastes?”

“The very same. Come and get us, _now_.”

Suddenly, Hordak perked up, leaning his upper half out the window. About thirty meters ahead was a series of massive holes- some of which seemed freshly dug.

His eyes flashed with dangerous intention as he hung up on Teela. He began shedding the pieces of clothing that had the behemoth’s innards still stuck to them, driving straight towards the closest hole. “Do you know anything about the fauna of Kakala, Adam?” He asked idly, fishing for something in his bag. “Those monsters we fought in the armory were the young of the native apex predator, no doubt taken before maturation. Those creatures are known to be q _uite_ vengeful.”

Adam turned around to see what Hordak was gunning for. When he put two and two together, his smile turned almost feral. “Oh, you absolute madman. You better have something in that bag for that!!!” He cried. He yelped as he barely avoided a blast to the shoulder, hurrying to fold Teela’s cannon and return to cover.

Hordak’s face was screwed up in concentration; when his claws brushed something smooth, he hissed with delight. “I do, in fact.”

Catra recognized the white sphere in Hordak’s hand. They were a Horde invention; impact bombs that only exploded when in contact with a hard surface. In this case, the rocky layer beneath the sand would do.

Swapping places at the wheel with Adam, Hordak climbed over to the passenger side. Catra nearly tangled herself in her tail to get out of his way, forgetting once again that she (technically) wasn’t really there. It was difficult, not to, though; everything Hordak experienced was so vivid, it might as well have been real. Her eyes even stung from the sand and dust that scuffed her cheeks. 

She gripped the back of seat tightly, peering over Hordak’s shoulder as he threw the passenger door open. With a gasp, she saw something move at the bottom of the abyss: a fleshy mass moving parallel to their car in a heaving, segmented crawl.

It was what Hordak had been hoping for. Gripping the door with his left hand for balance, he leaned far out the vehicle, arm straining as he waited patiently.

Right as the sand dropped into a black abyss, Hordak simply let the bomb go, letting it fall gently into the hole. In another hole, Adam threw the armor they’d been wearing.

Neither item made a sound as they plummeted. Hordak considered it the quiet before the storm.

Adam helped Hordak back into the car, having to swerve to narrowly avoid a rock formation. The brush with the rock took the door off the side, but it didn’t take the alien with it.

No sooner had they righted themselves, both breathing sighs of relief, an explosion shook them from beneath, causing Adam to veer yet again. From deep within the ground, an enraged wail vibrated the sand. The desert appeared to shift and swell as the noise steadily grew louder and _louder_ , charging towards the rumbling of the multitudes of vehicles behind the pair.

Before the Rebellion could realize what Hordak had unleashed, a fully-grown sandworm burst from below, shattering earth and rock as it bellowed. Where its babies were behemoths, their mother was incomprehensible. Its eye alone was the size of their tank, its mouth underneath capable of swallowing the town behind them whole.

Just as Hordak had anticipated, the worm focused all of its godlike rage on the Rebellion tanks behind them. With Adam and Hordak’s vehicle too far away to be heard, they were completely ignored. In addition, they’d thrown everything that had yellow blood on it out- just to be safe. While that left Hordak without his hood, he had a feeling he’d get another if he asked.

Adam howled in triumphant glory as they made their escape into the wasteland, jostling Hordak’s shoulder. Above them, they could see the ship fast approaching, descending rapidly in order to scoop them up.

Hordak couldn’t help but crack a smile at Adam’s cheering, leaning back in his seat. “Well? Did The Horde’s General meet your expectations?” He asked, voice light.

“And then some. By the Gods, I wish I was half as ballsy as you. Not fearing death must be so relaxing…” Adam marveled.

“I do fear death. It’s part of my defective nature. I simply wait until I am still alive to worry about dying,” Hordak refuted, closing his eyes briefly.

“Sounds like you could use a drink.” Adam’s eyes wandered down Hordak’s frame, double-taking at the sight of a growing red spot on his shoulder. The fabric was slightly torn, revealing a cut that was trickling blood whenever the alien shifted.

“And a bandage,” He added with a deep frown. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

Hordak shook his head, even though he contradicted himself with a small wince. “I’m fine. Must have happened when I was pinned…” He trailed off. In truth, he was horribly exhausted; the entire heist had taken all of his stamina. His head buzzed uncomfortably as the adrenaline stopped pumping through his veins, leaving him with a piercing headache.

The alien did his best to ignore it. “I’m… More concerned about you, actually,” He added after a few moments of silence. “Why does your sword react to you so violently?”

The question seemed to be what Adam had been waiting for. He let out a long, slow sigh, keeping his eyes on the ship.

“Simple. It’s not mine.”

Adam’s eyes grew dark as he gripped the steering wheel. “It can only be held by the heir to the Eternian throne,” He explained. He shrugged carelessly. “My father stripped me of my right to it when he found out I was working with Teela on one of Mara’s projects. When he found out I had gotten her pregnant... He cursed it, too; anyone can use that sword, whether magical or not. Just… Not me. Specifically, not me.”

He laughed bitterly. “It tries to kill me.”

Hordak stared out into the horizon, holding a mix of complicated emotions in his chest. “I… I see. That certainly explains your spite…” He murmured.

He felt Adam’s gaze on him as they came to a rolling stop. “… I’m a Prince. And you’re the Horde. And I’m not dead yet,” The human stated, bewildered. “I thought you would kill me the moment you knew. I’m your natural enemy, after all.”

Hordak simply huffed, crossing his arms. “Well… It doesn’t make me want to kill you any less.” The barest hint of a smile crossed his face. “I am still your captive. Whatever you are or were, I am in no less peril now that I was before. I will keep this information in mind… but I will consider it irrelevant, for now, given your unique circumstances.”

Adam seemed shocked, but it quickly faded to warm relief. “Well. Awesome. Glad we could see each other eye-to-eye on this."

Suddenly, his smile grew mischievous. “So... Did you have fun?”

“ _No._ ”

“Not even a little?”

“… Shut up.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak learns the truth.

To say they collapsed through the doorway would be an understatement. 

Teela had been at the helm of the ship, ready to take it into the sky; however, at the sight of the two men, haggard and limping, she gave the task to the autopilot. The ship would blend itself back in with the crowd, and they would leave the way they came. The Rebellion was searching the skies for ships breaking form, attempting to leave in a haste; as such, a patient retreat was necessary.

“I need my table!” She called out, grabbing the white bag that rested at her feet. There was a beep, and suddenly, the white gurney from before ejected itself from the wall and zipped to her side.

She hurried to her husband, first, taking his weight from Hordak as the alien slunk away. “What happened?” She asked, helping Adam sit on the gurney with a worried frown.

“Well…” Adam smiled meekly as he held up his burnt arm. “Things got a little out of hand, hehe.”

She recognized the markings with bitter clarity. “You used the sword,” She accused as she glared daggers at him, her lips pressed thin.

“They weren’t interested in apprehending us. They wanted us dead,” Hordak further elaborated. “They sent creatures after us.”

If Hordak was trying to defend Adam, it fell on deaf ears. “You _promised_ that you wouldn’t touch it,” Teela pressed, her voice catching in her throat.

Adam’s smile fell, slightly, as he sighed. “I had to. They were gonna kill him,” He argued, lifting himself to sit more upright. In the artificial light of the ship, his more pallid skin glimmered with a thin sheen of sweat.

She clenched her jaw, her contempt for the warlord plain in the way she would only look at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Maybe you should have _let_ them.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“He’s not safe, Adam, I still think he needs to-“

“ _Teela_.”

_“What, Adam!?!”_

Tenderly, Adam reached out and intertwined their fingers, his digits trembling as they locked with hers. With his blue, he gazed deeply into her red eyes. The expression on his face was unlike any Catra had ever seen.

Awe, and joy, and hope.

“It’s _true_. All of it.”

The room was utterly quiet as Teela processed what he meant. Her head finally turned to Hordak, disbelief filling her features with a heavy breath. She stared at him, as though she was seeing him there for the very first time.

Her mouth opened and closed, hesitant to even speak. “…Are you sure?” She asked, voice cracking.

Adam nodded. “Yeah. It’s even stronger, too, with him.”

Nervously, Hordak squirmed under the intense scrutiny. Despite knowing they (probably) meant him no harm, he’d kept his distance from them, much like a wounded animal would. Whether because they were arguing, or Hordak was trying to hide his weakness, Catra wasn’t sure. He seemed equally uncomfortable with both.

He’d found a cloth in the vehicle, and was applying to his shoulder to stop the bleeding. He was unsure where Teela kept the first aid, and he hadn’t wanted to ask when her focus had been so pinpointed on her husband- someone she, logically, valued more than him.

Except, now, the entirety of her attention was on him, Adam completely forgotten behind her. She let out another, small breath, this time overflowing with relief.

“Oh…” She cooed. For a moment, it almost seemed like she would shed a tear. “I… I see. And it’s him, so…” She trailed off, her hands clutched tightly to her chest. She seemed to be speaking mostly to herself, wrapped up in whatever Adam’s words meant to her.

Right before his eyes, Hordak saw the woman’s attitude towards him shift.

When she noticed the cloth he held was slowly dying red, she jumped. “Oh!! Why didn’t you say you were hurt!?!” She exclaimed, rushing to Hordak’s aid.

Hordak’s ears twitched, startled by her sudden movement. Brow furrowed, he stepped away from her- even when she kept trying to close their distance. “I am usually not tended to. If you think it’s that serious, I will provide my own first aid,” He insisted, taking another step back.

And then another.

“ _What_? Absolutely not. Sit down and take off your sweater, right now.” She met his steps with growing frustration, eyeing his wound.

Amazingly, the seven-foot-tall, alien warlord was _cornered_ by Teela. Despite very much towering over her, capable of knocking her across the ship with a single swing, he retreated until he no longer had the space to.

“I will not! Leave me be!!” He cried, voice sharp as he steadily grew more flustered. He looked positively _terrified_ of this woman’s sudden attention. Catra could also see he was starting to get confused by it, too. Perplexed by the notion he’d be given any kind of care or consideration, even when it was needed, like healthcare was some special privilege.

He had been cut and bruised when they were in that first memory as well, and Prime had left him to patch himself up. It was a little disheartening to Catra that Hordak’s confusion came from the idea that he simply wasn’t _supposed_ to receive help.

Though his fear, she’d admit, was well warranted here. Where Adam had cozied up to Hordak rather quickly, Teela had kept a safe distance until, quite literally, _that_ moment. She had seemed just as frightened of him as he was of her; that fear, however, had vanished when the wound on his shoulder was exposed to her viewing.

“This needs stitches!! Adam, what did you do to him!?” Teela shouted angrily, her contempt switching to Adam to complete the bizarre transformation. She snatched the dirty towel from Hordak, even as he flinched away and hissed.

He still didn’t take a swipe at her, which was a bit peculiar to Catra. Not that she wanted him to hit her; just that Hordak didn’t seem like the type to care about that kind of low behavior. Was it because of Adam?

No, she realized with a start. With Teela so close, Hordak could hear the tiny heartbeat of her child. It was feeble, but not weak- it was sure, growing. Hordak’s hand twitched with the urge to defend himself, but the heartbeat in his ear had him tucking it behind his back.

He’d told Catra in confidence, once, that he could never bring himself to harm infants. Something about knowing their absolute frailty made taking their lives rather distressing to him, in a way that he could not explain. He hadn’t killed Adora for that reason, and it was why there were so many orphans in particular that had him on the top of their list. 

Pleased with his restraint, Teela replaced the cloth with a clean one. She took in his scuffed face with sympathy, bringing a tender smile to her lips. “It’s okay. I’m… I’m not gonna hurt you,” She promised hesitantly. “I was kidding about dissecting you. I don’t want to do that… Not to you.”

He blinked owlishly at her, caught off guard by the fond tone. Why was Teela fretting over him? Why did she speak in such a way? He was The Horde General. If any clone had earned vile, unrepentant cruelty, it was him. Yet, she dared to show him more kindliness than he knew he deserved, even before this sudden influx.

It didn’t irritate him, oddly; quite the contrary. Her touch hade his heart swell, a chill coming over him that made him want to lower his guard. Instead, he shied away from it, raising his arm to swat her away.

Teela flinched away from him, sucking in a breath. Fear flitted across her features as she shielded her stomach. 

At it, Hordak cast his eyes downward. As expected. Some creatures would treat threats with kindness, but it was only a defense tactic. “Back away,” He growled, the noise dampened by his exhaustion.

The fear faded from her as she narrowed her eyes. Her posture grew more determined, Hordak’s statements now coming off more as a challenge to her than a threat.

“You’re not stitching yourself up,” Teela stated with finality.

Hordak’s chin had tilted, just barely, to Adam. With a bristling growl, he crossed his arms. “I will not expose myself.”

Obviously, Teela caught onto what Hordak was so prickly about. "What if it’s just me?” She offered as a counter. “I’ve seen hundreds of you, remember? I do still need to document your skin condition, so we can do that as well. Then, you’ll only have to undress once. I won’t even look when you do it.”

He pondered that. He did promise to let her document his various deformities, as per their agreement.

He swallowed inaudibly; she’d promised she wouldn’t cut him open. While he hadn’t truly believed she would from the beginning, the threat was still ever present as a result of her profession. Rebellion medics and self-interested scientists coveted clone bodies. His Brothers had often threatened to leave him with one should he wander from the group.

How funny. He’d winded up in the hands of one, anyways, as a result of his own idiocy.

His brow relaxed as Hordak closed his eyes, wearily sighing at the situation he’d landed himself in. “Alright. If you dare to be so bold, by all means. Stitch up the Horde General,” he relented, voice not-so-subtly dripping with sarcasm. “I’m sure that’s what the universe wants and needs…”

Teela chuckled softly. It was warm, and it made Hordak feel warm inside his chest, as well.

“I will. And if you don’t kick me, you can have a lollipop afterward.”

With that, her head snapped to Adam. “What are you still doing, sitting there!? You did that to yourself!! Get up!!” She demanded, storming over to him and chasing him off the bed. “Go lay down somewhere and sleep that off!!”

Her husband squawked, highly offended as he was forced out of the room. “You’re dumping me for a fascist!? Teela, what would your father say!?”

“He’d say, ‘Adam is a big idiot and deserves it’, and you know that.”

“…Yeah. He would. Good man…”

***

Hordak had been incredibly hesitant to remove his turtleneck, even with the steps taken for his pride. He did, however, eventually peel it off, knowing it would get in Teela’s way otherwise.

Teela had her back to him. Adam was long asleep in their bedroom, his arm and face bandaged. Quite a display of trust, he realized, to leave themselves so vulnerable before him.

They really didn’t expect him to kill them, did they?

Well. They _were_ just two humans. Really, he didn’t _have_ to kill them. They were hardly worth the effort.

After all, they were going to give him the artifact, anyways. Why not play along, and get what he could out of it? Horde Prime couldn’t follow him as he could the others. Therefore, his Big Brother trusted him to make decisions that would benefit the Horde. And this was- or, rather, would- benefit The Horde… If only just one member of it.

He had been quite pleased, so far, with his time with them. If this could end amicably, Hordak would rather not have to get his hands dirty with their blood.

He could always kill them if he changed his mind.

That was his rationale for why he was there. Why he sat on Teela’s gurney, naked from the waist down, letting the woman tend to his shoulder.

His pigment defection was fully visible; within a few days, his hair, too, would be back to a midnight blue. He had hoped desperately that Teela was a woman of impartial logic, and wouldn’t eye him with contempt as his Brothers tended to do.

She hadn’t said anything. Looked at his markings, made some notes, and left her opinions to herself.

“Alright... I’m going to numb the area. Tell me when you feel a tingling in your shoulder,” She explained as she wiped a swab of clear paste over the cut. It had stopped bleeding, but reopened at the slightest touch.

Hordak winced lowly, shutting his eyes as he bared his teeth. “You really don’t need to tend to me as you do Adam… I can see I cause you great fear, for obvious reasons,” He hissed out.

He avoided the sight of her work with a shiver. “Ah… It is working. I cannot feel my wound.”

The breath the woman released held weight as she struggled to find the right words to say to him. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before gathering her needle and thread. “It’s not that I’m afraid of you. Well, I mean, it _is_ that, but not entirely. You’re Horde Prime’s personal warlord- I’m very valid in my concern for my safety. But… It’s…”

She sighed, her inner conflict rising to the surface with it.

“I expected someone different than you. I was hoping you would be… Literally anyone other than The Horde General. It was silly of me, to think that.” She laughed dryly at the mere notion. “Of course, you’re the clone I saw that day…”

Hordak opened one eye. “You have alluded to this meeting before. And… I do feel a strange sense of familiarity when I look at your face. Where have we met before?”

Teela began to stitch. “Do you remember the courtyard? You stumbled on my father and me, as we were fleeing Eternia.”

Hordak growled deep in his throat, but stopped immediately when it made her hands stutter.

“Unfortunately,” He moped, ears drooping at the memory of his embarrassing performance. “I was punished severely for my behavior. I panicked, and fled my Brother’s safety. My defective nature once inspired a great deal of pity in my enemies. Your father no doubt responded to that, and he didn’t give me the death I deserved.”

Her eyebrows rose into her bangs. “You inspired pity in my father because you were a _child_ ,” She argued, bewildered he didn’t see that. “Don’t clones emerge fully grown? You couldn’t have been older than _twelve,_ the day I saw you.”

“ _TWELVE_?” Catra’s jaw dropped. She’d had her back to the entire scene, a little embarrassed by the level of intimacy. However, she spun around at his age being mentioned. He’d been a pet of Horde Prime for _fifteen years_? How was he still-?

Actually, she knew _exactly_ how he was still alive, and she cringed once again at the memory. With a groan, she turned back around. Just imagining having to live in that tiny space for that long made her shudder.

“Horde Prime wished to study the way my corrupted mind responded to the purification of the Horde,” Hordak explained simply. “He wished to teach me the art of war early, as well.”

“By sending you to a dying planet!? Does he even realize-!?” She let out a frustrated growl, positively incensed by the idea of a specimen being treated so poorly in _any_ experiment. “Doesn’t he understand how _special_ you are?!”

Him? Special?

Hordak’s eyes widened to large, red orbs, his face slowly turning a similar color. “I… I’m _sorry_?” He balked, ears twitching as they too, began turning red. “I’m not… I’m _defective_. I know you can see this disgusting aberration to my skin-“

“Vitiligo? Humans have that. It’s not a defect, it’s a melanin imbalance,” She shot back. “I can give you something to ease the itching and scarring... And it wouldn’t do that at all, if Horde Prime didn’t ‘cleanse’ you to get rid of it.”

Once again, the alien let the subtle jab at Horde Prime go unchallenged with surprising ease. He even seemed aware that was what was causing the irritation. Cleasings were always particularly painful for him, as there was so much sin that needed to be washed clean. Where his Brothers howled with elation, Hordak only felt bone-deep agony. 

With a small snip, Teela finished her work. The thread would heal the wound within two days, and then fall off. “You’re greatly exaggerating how awful it is.” Leaning back with a fond smile, she took a closer look at the pattern on his back. “It’s shaped like a _heart_. That’s so… _cute_.”

Hordak’s hair stood on end as Teela traced where blue met white, her fingers running over the bumps of his spine and spinal port.

His heart stuttered with panic, fearing her nails burying into his flesh. Yet the human didn’t hurt him. There was no sting, no burn, no bite, no tear- it was just a simple touch. Gentle, from beginning to end.

To his mortification, he let out a soft purr, his eyes threatening to slide closed. It inspired a sensation in him that he very rarely felt; a kind of peace that wasn’t the result of a won battle, or a slain enemy.

It was a very addictive feeling- one he knew he had to recoil from.

This hand was not Horde Prime’s. Therefore, the touch could not be allowed. 

He leapt up then, grabbing his sweater from beside him. He donned it with hasty, uncoordinated movements. He said nothing, so startled was he by the other.

He backed up again, the wounded animal returning to his hasty steps. “I-I understand now, why Adam insists you were the one who truly wanted to hunt me down. Judging by your choice of gun, I-I imagine hunting is very much your hobby…” He stammered, speaking if only to recover his dignity.

Teela smiled coyly at him from her place on the gurney. “You’ve been on my mind for a long time. I kept wondering if you were able to grow up…” She trailed off. Her mind was far away- no doubt back at the courtyard, where they first met.

From behind her, a phantom appeared. It hid behind her, watching Hordak with big, ruby eyes. The toddler’s form was nearly transparent; as if the memories Hordak was recalling had been laid on top of one another. The phantom appeared to be the result of Prime’s technology- neither Hordak nor Teela could see them, as they didn’t acknowledge their existence at all.

From behind the elder alien, neon green eyes filled with apprehension, an even _younger_ Hordak than the first peeked out.

Catra could see, then, why Teela’s father would let Hordak go. He was _tiny_ , barely wide enough to be considered three-dimensional, and only came up to Hordak’s mid-thigh. His face was cherub-like; his eyes were two, massive orbs in his skull. His ears were far too big for his head, perpetually tilted down by their weight. It was certainly a pitiful creature, but less in a disgusting way and more in an “I’d buy you whatever candy you want” way.

“It’s silly, but… I would imagine what might have happened if my father had taken you with us,” Teela continued.

Catra saw the alien child start to gingerly move from behind the safety of his older counterpart, expression shifting to curiosity at the sight of the toddler. His movements were unsure, but determined, taking small steps forward.

The elder, likewise, had softened his gaze.

“You would have definitely fought,” Teela lamented. “I know that now. But… When I was little, I couldn’t help but wonder what we could have done for you. If you might have been able to be happy, with us.”

The toddler reached out with a small hand.

The apparition didn’t take it; with a dart, the alien child vanished, disappearing once again behind his older self.

Hordak winced inaudibly, though it wasn’t due to his shoulder. “I would have tried to kill you,” He confirmed with a shake of his head. “I can understand your thought process- I am not connected to The Horde as my Brothers. I have the ability to feel and think for myself, independent of Prime’s will.”

He sighed through his nose. “But I _am_ The Horde. The Horde is I,” He declared. “Prime is my creator, and I will never truly stray from him.”

Teela’s hopeful look faded as she nodded with understanding, gingerly moving off the gurney. She still kept her fond smile, her eyebrows drawing together as she took in the alien before her.

“He wanted to, you know,” She said after a moment of silence. “My father died with that one regret- that he saw a clone that might have been what Mara was looking for, and he let you go. That’s really why I hunted you down; I wanted to finish his work.”

Hordak perked up at the name. “The She-Ra... Will you show me what she said, now?”

“Not yet. You’ve still got one more errand to run, before we can consider the arrangement met,” Teela explained. “Don’t worry, it’s not anything death-defying.”

Her smile, then, became tinged with mischievous intent.

“Have you ever been grocery shopping?”

***

Hordak was aware of the concept of pairs. Horde Prime had educated him about what it entailed. He was taught the practice involved two creatures mating and choosing to raise their spawn as a collaborative effort. They called themselves, “father”, “mother”, and “guardian”. They were all natural processes, needed in order to further the sapiens’ pithy, instinctive desire to _live_ and _cooperate_.

Prime had described them more as jobs than as any connection to another being.

Hordak saw, now, that there was more to it than that.

Adam turned against the Rebellion- his own kingdom- for his mate? Why would he do that? Surely, he could have chosen another. There were still plenty of Eternians flitting about in space. Teela was quite an aesthetically pleasing one, yes; however, humans were all quite aesthetically pleasing. He’d have his pick of them, being one himself.

Yet Adam gazed at Teela with the passion Hordak looked to Prime with; reverent and absolute. Inside Adam’s Eternian blue eyes, however, the emotion was so different.

It seemed so full. So complete.

“Guess it’s my turn to stay behind, huh?” Adam laughed, taking his seat at the captain’s chair. While, yes, the magical burns on his arm had faded, he still possessed that same, pallid color to his skin. He was far too weak, and would be a greater liability should they encounter trouble.

His wife gently placed a blanket in his lap, stroking his hair and kissing over the bandages on his cheek. “We’ll be back quickly,” She promised.

Adam must have caught the guilty frown growing on Hordak’s face, because he waved it away like a fly. "Don’t worry, Brother. I just need some more rest, and a hearty dinner,” He reassured.

Teela punctuated her retreat with a final kiss to his temple. It left a red mark on Adam’s forehead that brought a giggle out of her. With her husband’s miffed pout, though, she apologetically passed him a box of tissues.

Hordak made a face at it that Catra scoffed at. “Oh, like _you_ have _any_ room to talk, Mr. Etheria’s No. 1 Wife Guy…”

Teela had put her oversized jacket back on, once again hiding the swell of her stomach. Hordak had been given a mask and a tightly-fitting hood for a disguise- with it, he resembled an alien species that resided in the solar system. They must have been disturbing creatures, Catra thought; the mask was pearly white, only two holes showing his red eyes.

When he wore it on his forehead, he reminded her vividly of Entrapta. She whined lowly, ears pinning to her head.

Teela held up two baskets in one hand as she approached Hordak. “Would you mind being my bodyguard, for a while?” She asked him, passing him one.

The alien scoffed, but took the basket without complaint. He’d already agreed to whatever they demanded of him, regardless of whether or not he was aware of the task’s nature.

That didn’t stop him from asking.

“What does ‘grocery shopping’ entail? Will I need to kill for it?” He questioned as they exited the ship through the loading bay.

Teela shook her head with a small chuckle. “No. We’re stationed at Soaring Comets- it’s a space station and shopping center. Has whatever you need, and we need ingredients,” She explained. “This is the best place to get fresh tomatoes.”

They left a large lot filled with ships and entered a world of lights and sound unlike any Catra had ever seen before. If the first city had been futuristic to her eyes, it was primitive compared to what Hordak and Teela casually walked into.

 _“Welcome to Soaring Comets!”_ Came an artificial, cheery voice directly in front of her. It was a giant hologram of a fuschia woman, dressed in an elegant, sparkling gown. At the level they were at, the only thing she could see without looking up was her glittering heels.

The hologram stood gracefully, waving the glass in her hand with a flair. _“Where luxury… Is for the people!”_

Catra’s head spun just looking at the map. There were at least twenty levels that stretched above their heads, each one indicating a different type of good. Clothing, machinery, food, entertainment- anything a space-farer could need, brought from other planets and sold in its coil-like halls. Wares seemed to spill out of the floors they were on, with trees dropping leaves delicately onto hanging tapestries and awnings as they feel from above.

Every avenue, nook, and cranny was crowded with people of all shapes and sizes, moving through the wide hallways with arms full of pink and green bags. They went from one shop to another, completely oblivious to the wanted criminals in their midst.

Hordak seemed a tad bewildered, as well, by the extravagant amounts of pure capitalism. “You sapient creatures certainly enjoy your things,” He commented, voice verging on teasing. His smirk couldn’t be seen behind his mask, but the way his eyes crinkled gave him away.

“Oh, we’re not getting anything _too_ fancy- I want to make a special dinner, to celebrate a job well done on Kakala.” Teela, easily, threaded her arm through his, walking with him as though they were just like any of the patrons around them.

She winked. “Also as a thank-you, for getting me such a nice gun.”

Hordak allowed the contact, though his ears twitched at it through the fabric of his hood. “I didn’t want to cross your ire,” He defended, tone betraying his embarrassment; he had hoped Adam was lying about tattling, before. “I was just enthralled by the selection of weapons. I happened to remember you wanted it. It wasn’t an inconvenience to take it. That’s all.”

Smiling knowingly, she nudged him, leading him through the halls towards the floor they needed.

“You know, I’ve been doing a profile on your mental state. Every time you interact with something, or you speak, I’ve been analyzing it. Do you know what I’ve found, more than anything?”

“Oh, do tell. What, am I truly as monstrous as they say?”

“No… You’re actually a very sensitive creature, Brother. You feel a lot of raw empathy. You call it logical, but to understand the feelings of another person is indicative of a high level of emotional intelligence unseen in The Horde. And it’s not just emotional empathy; when someone else is hurt, you flinch as well. That’s not the behavior of a cold-hearted conqueror.”

Hordak scoffed at that. “That is a result of my deviation from the Hivemind. I have to think like you, as I cannot think like my Brothers.”

“And? It’s not bad, that you are capable of that- its normal, to have empathy for other creatures. It’s only because Prime removes all of that from the others that you’re an outlier. He makes it a crime, to feel for another person. To be like us.”

She stopped him, gesturing to her freckles. “Like your markings- I have markings as well. All over, in fact, just like yours.”

She showed him her hands, where brown dots covered even her fingertips. “My hair used to be red, too. I’m an outlier, just like you, because of my skin, hair, and eyes. But you wouldn’t call me defective. Can you really call yourself defective, when what you are is a perfectly functional creature to people like me?”

Hordak opened his mouth to speak, to argue. But, with a growing, gnawing sensation in his stomach, he understood her logic. If he was so unlike Horde Prime for those reasons, as Horde Prime had stated many, many times… Then, by Prime’s own words, he was far more like Teela.

He was _akin_ to something. How strange.

Hordak only gave a short nod to show he understood, offering no rebuttal. What Adam said had been true; he had doubt. A kind of doubt that gave him an overwhelming urge to listen, for the first time, to what his enemies had to say.

She continued as they ascended to the higher levels of the station. “I say you’re sensitive because you respond very healthily to affection. Despite pulling away from it, you don’t instinctively want to. You have to force yourself to,” Teela pointed out, gesturing to where they were connected at the arm. 

He winced, proving her right by yanking his arm away. “Horde Prime gives affection to me, when he is particularly pleased. It is often… Uncomfortable. Despite his adoration being what I am meant to crave, I find myself dreading his loving attention,” He admitted. He felt as if he was betraying Prime simply expressing that aloud, his chest burning with guilt. 

Her eyes softened considerably. “You can pull away, if you like,” She told him. “I’m not trying to control you with it- neither is Adam. I’m showing you affection because I don’t want you to be afraid of me, either.”

Hordak, while conflicted, felt surprisingly relieved. It was a small, insignificant freedom that he didn’t have, and he knew that; until he met these two humans, he’d thought wanting such a thing was indicative of his sin.

“I… I find myself tolerating it, when it’s from you,” He said. He bowed his head, extending his arm once more for her. “It is easier, when you have proven to be a different creature than I initially believed. I suppose my tolerance is the payment for the kind deed your father showed me. Quid Pro Quo, as Adam has said.”

She took it with a beaming smile. “If that’s how you want to rationalize it, fine.”

She led him, then, to the food level of the station. Here, there was a plethora and rich, appetizing smells that completely enveloped them. Hordak wasn’t allowed to eat delicacies like this unless Prime had _guests_ , so it was a momentary bit of panic for him to see so much of it. This was for Adam, wasn’t it…?

Teela, however, helpfully told him that if she wanted to kill Adam, she would have done it a long time ago. “You would, however, make a wonderful alibi and accomplice to the deed. Maybe one day,” She joked.

She’d nearly sparkled at the little laugh it pulled from Hordak.

Catra let out a low, somewhat distressed hum, her discomfort growing as she eyed the pair. “So… Are they _both_ trying to…?” She trailed off. She didn’t want to finish her thought.

“He’s not even _attractive_ , what is _wrong_ with you people…”

She followed behind them as Hordak progressively learned the art of grocery shopping. He’d been given the list; to spare him the embarrassment, Teela had drawn pictures of what they looked like so he knew what to look for. She would need to correct him occasionally, but did so by subtly replacing what he’d grabbed with something fresher.

They eventually wandered to a part of the floor that was bursting with greenery, with fruit trees growing in large pots outside a greenhouse built into the station.

Hordak watched with curious eyes as Teela picked up a spiked fruit with a hum. “Smell this,” She commanded, holding it up for him to sniff.

He did so and immediately recoiled, glaring petulantly at her for abusing his trust.

In response, she smiled playfully, the twinkle in her eye growing. “This durian? The way I see things, this durian is you. Prickly and smelly on the outside. But, that’s not the full story. Because-“

With her great strength, she pulled the tough hide apart, exposing the fruit underneath. “-Underneath is something that’s kinda sweet!”

“That’s stupid,” He hissed, eyes narrowing behind his mask. “I’m not a durian.”

“But you are pretty stinky. I think you still have some sandworm gut on your clothes…”

Teela closed her eyes, pushing the fruit back together. With a soft glow, it melded back together again.

Magic, Hordak realized with a start.

It had been done thoughtlessly; when she looked back up, she cringed, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry… You can probably imagine why I didn’t tell you I can do that.”

Hordak found himself forgiving her- not that he’d felt betrayed to begin with. After he’d seen for himself what a useful tool it was, it was difficult to become incensed by magic a second time.

“Adam has told me more about it. I’m more curious… What is the origin of your magic, if not Eternia?” He asked curiously.

“It’s… The baby,” She admitted after a pause. “I was surprised, too. Magic doesn’t run in my family. But this little guy is so powerful, I can channel it with barely any effort.”

“I see… Why didn’t you mend my shoulder with magic?”

“You can’t rely on magic for everything. Besides… It’s not mine to use. It’s my child’s power. It may seem silly, but I want to raise my child free of the Eternian desire to grab and take. I want to give them everything I wasn’t allowed to have, and let them be everything I wasn’t allowed to be.”

Hordak tilted his head to one side. Silently, he picked up a tomato. She held out her basket with a nod, and he began dropping a few inside. 

“Why does that matter to you? Their freedom?” He wondered.

Teela hummed. “That’s easy… I love them.”

That word. He’d heard it before, but never spoken like that.

When Teela walked away to grab a more leafy produce, he followed hastily. He was horribly intrigued, now. “But if they stray from you, would that not be inconvenient? You cannot control them properly, like that,” he argued.

“That’s not what being a parent is about! I don’t want to control them. I want to teach them to be the best they can possibly be, no matter who that is!” She retorted. “They may not be what I had in mind, but as long as they’re living happily and kindly, that’s all that matters to me.”

“I… I see.”

***

Much like Adam, Hordak quickly grew fond of Teela.

It was difficult not to, when he had already been so vulnerable in front of her on so many occasions. He had told Teela some of the more intimate details of his training; the things that had caused him to doubt Prime to begin with. Where he had expected to be sneered at, shamed for daring to complain about his life when he’d ruined so many others… He had simply been understood.

Not forgiven. Understood.

And, yes, that had been liberating in itself. He didn’t want forgiveness for his actions, even if he was starting to question their motivations. He did, however, want someone to know him. Just once. In the sea of his brothers, he wanted to be _known_.

Then, to be known in such a way, and not be rejected? He felt wholly grateful for it. Teela offered her understanding so willingly- gave away her kindness and kinship like she had plenty to spare.

“Teela… May I request a detour? I had to throw away my hood on Kakala. I am particularly fond of wearing one, as it provides many utilities, and-“

“If you want one, you don’t have convince me. I wanted to get some jackets, too… I had an idea. A surprise for Adam, so don’t tell him.”

With that, they journeyed to a lower floor. There were plenty of shops to choose from; knowing Hordak’s tastes at a first glance, however, Teela immediately directed him to the more robust gear for the adventuring members of their society. She left him to choose between a grey, red, or black hood, speaking to the elderly woman at the counter in hushed tones as Hordak contemplated.

Hordak had the picked the dark, wine-colored hood as his favorite just as the door to the shop burst open. A small group of scarred catmen entered, all dressed in similar garb as they whined and bemoaned some loss.

In his disguise, he felt fairly secure. He did, however, keep his ears tuned to their conversation.

“Man, I don’t even know if I can afford a jacket… The Eternians haven’t paid me in ages.”

“Ugh, I know. They’re going straight down the gutter. Can’t believe all it took was their ugly planet blowing up and their Prince skipping town. Them- the _Empire_.”

“The Horde’s looking like a safe bet, lately. Oof, hate to be those guys on Fadella, right now. When Prime finds their weird clone torture club, he’s gonna be _pissed_.”

“Shame, too. That’s basically the only place you can get that kind of entertainment, now.”

Hordak scowled behind his mask at what he heard. They were still brave enough to capture his Brothers… Unsurprising. The sheer volume of The Horde left the sapiens with a particular spiteful nature towards them. If his Brothers were caught alive, they were only kept that way for a far more brutal death later. They were insects to the Rebellion; Hordak was no stranger to their fruitless, yet creative methods of extermination.

They had that in common with his Big Brother.

“Aw, look, guys! It’s a Plik-Plik!! Ah, love these little freaks. Let’s see that mask, eh?”

Hordak froze as an arm wrapped around his shoulders. He was spun around to the sound of low jeers, his eyes snapping shut. His jaw clenched behind his mask, to the point where his teeth ached. While he wanted nothing more than to slaughter these creatures for daring to touch him, he had to think of Teela and the child.

“Whew!! Still the creepiest aliens in the galaxy, you Plik-Pliks.” He was released with a rowdy push, though he hardly budged.

“Maybe you should get a mask that smiles,” Another joked, to a raucous chorus of laughter.

Hordak clicked his tongue and grabbed his hood, holding it close as he was pushed again. The alien he was pretending to be were incredibly passive creatures; not only could he not fight back, he couldn’t even growl. Each one he wanted to make had to be swallowed, and it was starting to make his throat burn.

His saving grace came not from a literal a golden beam of light, this time; instead, it was a more metaphorical one. Teela had returned, the basket in her arm now joined by a large, brown bag.

Her expression was pleasant as Hordak darted behind her. He quickly took the brown bag from her hand, using their close proximity to whisper, “ _Mercenaries_ ,” into her ear.

Teela nodded subtly, her head tilting to one side as her smile grew. “Is there a problem, guys?”

The catman that had grabbed Hordak first seemed to be the ringleader. He shrugged, sneering at the tall woman as she shielded her alien companion from more of their abuse.

“No problem with the Plik-Plik, _Eternian_. But, since you’re here- we haven’t been paid by your people in ages. I know all of you Eternians are overflowing with credits. You could spot me some cash to get a fancy, new jacket,” He ordered, holding out his hand.

“I know you know how this goes. Might as well cough it up, before this gets ugly.”

At that, Hordak longingly turned his head to Teela, nearly begging with his eyes.

She let out a long, stressful sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Fine. You win,” She relented.

For a moment, Catra assumed she would take out her wallet and start passing the gang money. Instead, she gathered up her belongings in her arms, leaving Hordak’s hands free.

“Don’t kill them,” was her only stipulation.

As Teela walked out the door, a member of the gang grabbed for her. Quick as lightning, Hordak grabbed his arm and squeezed until he felt the bones creak. He finally allowed himself to growl deep in his chest, like rumbling thunder.

The catman cried out in both pain and alarm. “What the-?! That’s not a Plik-Plik!!!”

Suddenly, Hordak was swarmed with three others, pulling at his clothes to get to his face underneath. His hood was yanked back, his mask pushed sideways to expose one half of his face.

“…H-Horde General,” One ruffian squeaked out, horrified realization dawning on them as they backed away.

He grinned, blood red and wolfish.

As Teela patiently waited for him outside the shop, Hordak threw one assailant out the window, sending him crashing onto the display tables underneath it. She seemed hardly surprised it had escalated that quickly, taking two purposeful steps out of Hordak’s way as he leapt through the window after him.

Catra had followed Teela outside, wishing she could get some of the popcorn she’d seen on the floor above them. Even without any weapon, Hordak was a talented fighter. The catman at his feet barely had any time to get up before the alien had a fist in his shirt. He was dragged to a nearby trash can and thrown into it, Hordak quite literally disposing of him with a huff.

“HORDE SCUM!!!” The gang leader screamed, drawing twin blades as he charged him.

Hordak, calmly, held his position, waiting until the other was in arm’s length. When the catman took his first swing, Hordak dodged to one side, dropped to the floor, and swept his legs from under him.

The catman’s back hit the marble floor with a hard thud, the wind leaving his chest as he dropped his blades. His fall, however, revealed that Hordak’s number of enemies had grown significantly larger, including both the remaining mercenaries and other patrons.

“IT’S THE HORDE!! KILL IT!!”

At the same moment he turned to run, Teela grabbed him by the arm to prevent their separation. Her pace was far slower than his, given the amount of weight she was carrying; even when Hordak took some of it from her, she quickly lost momentum.

“I hate being pregnant,” She whined lowly, forced to stop and breathe.

It would only be a matter of time before someone alerted the station authorities, and a lockdown would be initiated. Hordak hissed tensely, head darting from Teela to the people chasing them. They had to move quickly to the ship, and Teela simply couldn’t run as she was.

Hordak saw it necessary to take a shortcut.

He scooped the woman into his arms- baskets and all- and leapt off the banister and onto awning beneath them. Miraculously, it didn’t break from the sudden weight.

That might not have been what Hordak had been hoping for; his eyes grew large with panic when they began to slide. Teela, with one free hand, pulled a knife from Hordak’s thigh and stabbed it into the fabric. It ripped in loud tears, but it slowed their descent enough for the alien to safely drop them onto the dining area.

Hordak let out a short huff, adjusting the woman in his arms. “I’m glad one of us knew how to fix that…” He mumbled.

“Happy to help,” Teela quipped, returning his knife to its holster.

They weren’t unnoticed. “By the Gods, is that the Horde General?!” Someone cried.

A crowd of heads froze and swiveled to them. Teela cringed. “The parking lot entrance is still one down,” She pointed out.

“Noted.”

Hordak descended the stairs four at time, his grip firm as he tried not to jostle Teela. He began to get more and more concerned for the child; before, he’d said it callously, but now, he would be grievous if it was harmed because of him.

In the chaos of people fleeing in every direction, they avoided attracting any more new pursuers. The ones that had been following from the beginning could be heard behind them, though shouting at the top of the stairs.

Teela and Hordak ducked into the parking lot. A piercing alarm began, signaling they were out of time.

“Hey, there. You crazy kids looking for a ride?” Adam called from above them. He’d leaned out the ship’s open window at the sight of them, his arm hanging lazily out of it as he crooned. “I’ve got plenty of luxurious, comfortable seating for a pair of hot-“

 _“Shut up, Adam!!”_ Both Teela and Hordak cried in unison.

Hordak assisted Teela into the ship, securing her in the captain’s chair. He took the co-pilot’s seat beside Adam. Having left the ship on, the man only needed to bring it up to proper elevation before he sent it darting through the obstacle course of ascending and descending ships.

The membrane keeping the lot’s atmosphere had begun to crystallize and grow hard around the edges. When it was fully solidified, it would prevent any ship from passing through it. Breaking through wouldn’t be an option, for them; the sudden change of air pressure would take out every other innocent bystander in the lot.

Hordak had no complaints about that, but he wasn’t the one driving.

Their window of opportunity literally closing at a rapid pace, Adam surged the ship forward. To Hordak’s eyes, they wouldn’t make it; the membrane was closing far too quickly. He prepared to be knocked around, his whole body tensed as Teela chanted Adam’s name with growing distress.

With a hissing whine, they barely slipped through, the membrane hardening behind them with only minor scratches on the hull.

They flew into open space, free.

Amazed, once again, to be alive, Hordak breathed raggedly and slumped into the pilot’s seat. Behind him, Adam and Teela cheered, the station growing smaller and smaller as they escaped. 

“Well!! That was fun!” Teela exclaimed. “I guess I have to make this a double-victory dinner, now.”

She smiled, briefly, at Hordak. “Thank you for your help.”

At it, the alien’s lips quirked up- a rather shy return of her smile. He gave her a little nod, chest fluttering as she left to prepare dinner.

Adam lingered behind, noticing Hordak was still reeling from having to exert that much energy so quickly after the first time. He himself looked far better, now, with the exhausted paleness to his skin slowly gaining color once more. 

“I’m starting to get the strangest feeling people may not like me very much,” Hordak said aloud the moment he regained his composure.

Adam laughed heartily at that, clapping his hand on his shoulder. “Did you have fun with Teela?” He asked.

“Yes, actually. Far more than I had with you.”

“Aww, you don’t mean that.”

The look on Hordak’s face made it clear that he did. It shifted, however, as his next words sprung to mind. “I can see why you’d give up your kingdom for her,” He remarked.

Adam nodded proudly. “In a heartbeat. There’s more than a quadrillion people in the galaxy; not a single one is like her,” He declared. “I’d die for her, if she’d ever let me.”

Hordak found himself understanding Adam completely, but knowing he had no idea what he truly meant. He’d promised to die a million times for Prime; so did all of his Brothers. They were willing to die for Prime out of devotion and love, and suffer for their faith in his ever-encompassing light.

This was more. This was different. It felt older, stronger, and beyond his every conception.

Adam’s gaze became hardened and determined. “The reason why we’re running… The Eternian Empire doesn’t want me. It’s her,” He admitted, finally. He had a feeling Hordak was ready to know their whole truth. “Her and the baby. They want to use the magic they’re giving off to do… Something. I don’t know what, and I don’t ever want to find out. Even if it _might_ help the universe, I don’t want Teela or my child to be a part of it.”

“...Because you love them?” Hordak prompted in a quiet voice.

The human’s eyes lit up. “… Yeah. That’s exactly why.” His expression grew warm as embers. “Because I love them.”

Hordak’s head turned to the doorway of the lower deck, where Teela had gone. “… I… I, too, wish to protect Teela and the child.”

He peered out of the corner of his eye at Adam. “And… You,” He added quietly.

“I have felt… _More_ … Here… Than I have ever felt with The Horde. It’s…” He struggled to find the right words, growing more and more terrified by his thoughts. What he was saying aloud was heresy. It would materialize all of the things he’d heard from the two into something real that he could not look away from. It would create a line for him; one that he would have to choose to stay behind or cross.

But what he was trying to stop himself from knowing was a dark, seeping weight on his back. It was crushing him with all of its unforgiving force. He could no longer bear it.

“It’s _wonderful_ ,” He gasped out, unable to fight the sob around the corners of it. “So very wonderful…”

***

A single dinner with Adam and Teela was better than the every single one with Prime.

For one, Teela demanded Adam’s assistance, and Hordak was treated to their banter. Dinners with Horde Prime were hardly so playful, so light. He’d been given the task of cutting the vegetables, which he more than efficiently performed. Making food was a task he had programmed innately, as all the clones close to Prime did. Doing it for himself was quite the novel concept.

His first self-made meal left him with a peace that numbed his bones better than any sedative. He perked up, however, when Adam placed the artifact in front of him. The human took a step back, as if to indicate Hordak’s actions would not be stopped, should he choose to destroy it.

“Okay. Quid pro quo. You did the things for me; now I have to do this for you. It has to activate… And it should be synched with your voice. You just have to say six words,” He explained.

Hordak heard them with a small huff. He eyed the artifact with some level of apprehension; after all, this was what had brought him to Adam and Teela in the first place. What would come after this, according to Adam, would determine what he would do next.

Clearing his throat, he spoke the words with a raised voice.

“I am a Friend of Mara,” He recited.

The artifact clicked. From within, slowly rising in pitch, was a single note. With the sound came a soft glow from the blue glass. Like a flower, the entire artifact split open, revealing a small, frosted crystal. A light shot from the crystal and spread out, steadily taking the form of a rectangle.

A hologram screen.

The hologram focused, creating a woman with light brown skin and amber eyes. She appeared to be in the padded room of a child, messy drawings and stuffed animals piled in one, off-white corner. Said child must have been in the bed to her left; the fabric rustled as the woman cleared her throat.

“Hello! My name is Mara. I’m a First One for the Eternian Empire, and I specialize in research and development. I have been assigned to the Horde prisoners as their caretaker. Here, we study their behavior in an effort to understand the Hivemind!” She was beaming; excited, clearly.

“I have begun to document my research here on something more personal… Just in case. If… If my hypothesis is correct, then this could change everything.”

She opened the folder in her lap. “I have been receiving clones for about ten months now. They don’t last long- they start to scream about Horde Prime after two days of being caught, and go catatonic after a week. Then they die in a month, through starvation and dehydration or…”

She gulped. “Self-inflicted means. It seems like they have been programmed to stop functioning once they are aware they aren’t returning to Horde Prime. Sometimes, I-I wish the others wouldn’t bring me any at all… What a horrible way to die.”

Her face had progressively fell as she spoke. It genuinely hurt her, to see the creatures suffer so much.

“I had almost given up hope I could ever understand these creatures… But then.” She smiled again, her excitement returning. “Then something _amazing_ happened. One clone didn’t die!!!”

Hordak jolted, his eyes wide as his blood ran cold. No… It couldn’t be…

“One clone, out of a million… He didn’t die. His hair, his eyes, and his teeth changed colors. He…” Her eyes welled up with tears, her gaze turning to the bed. “He had a _light_ in his eyes. Alive, like I am alive.”

She held up some of the papers contained within her folder. “I took another look at the data my superiors were throwing out, and I noticed something,” She declared. “Their genetic makeup shows clear signs of severe tampering. After comparing serial numbers to certain variances, I managed to work out that it’s an algorithm-based process, like a factory with an assembly line. At certain points in development, they’ll be outfitted to be as Prime wishes them. They’ll be connected to the Hivemind, the chemical reactions in their brains are lowered to the barest minimum, the bionic components will be installed, and then they’re _literally_ programmed to be solely devoted to Prime.”

Her eyebrows narrowed with determination. “Programs will glitch out, eventually. Horde Prime can wax poetically about his own brilliance all he wants, but he’s not brilliant enough to have both efficiency and perfection. This clone that I found… I think this is what Horde Prime’s species is like, truly, without his modifications. It was skipped in the process, and modified later to resemble his Brothers. He’s not connected to the Hivemind at all. He's even magic-sensitive, which is, frankly, the most astounding thing about him. I don’t know how Prime didn’t catch him, but he’s safe with me, now. He did a wonderful job, fooling his Brothers...”

“Mara?” Came a deep voice off to the side. “Mara…?”

“I’m right here, 2585,” Mara reassured, gesturing him to come to her. “You want to come and say hi? I don’t mind having a lab partner!”

Hordak emerged from the frame, sitting at the foot of the bed with an adoring chirr. 

Not another Horde clone- Hordak.

Hordak let out a choked noise, his lips parting with no sound at all. He saw the same, blue hair, and the same, red eyes. His double’s posture was entirely different; he held the innocence of a child, sitting cross-legged as Mara ruffled his hair affectionately.

But that was him. A different him, but it was _him_.

The clone blinked owlishly at the woman’s touch, but smiled softly and happily after just a short moment. “Mara!!” He chirped, Hordak’s voice ringing out of his throat. “Mara!!”

Mara giggled, rubbing behind his ear. “He’s shockingly soft-hearted. It makes what Prime does to them all the more cruel… If the clones are all this gentle and sweet without his influence, how we treat them _needs_ to change,” She declared. “We have to be better than The Horde. That includes treating our enemies with forgiveness, if there’s a chance for it.”

She took a deep breath, gathering her papers again. “I want to try and figure out more about his biology. I’m hopeful I’ll find a way to reverse his influence on them. Perhaps 2585's magic sensitivity is the key... In the meantime though, I think I’m going to try and present 2585 to the other First Ones. Together, I think we can beat him. We won’t even need The She-Ra, whenever Etheria decides to cooperate and pick her…”

The clone’s happy expression faded, slightly. “Mara…” He said softly, reaching out for her.

“I think… I want to say this, if there are any other clones like this one, out there.” Mara took the clone’s hand, staring into the camera with absolute conviction.

Ah, here it was. This is what Adam meant by “to him”.

“I want to say that you aren’t a defect. You are the result of Prime’s own, imperfect system, but you are _perfect_ , just the way you are. If you feel emotion and connection to the world around you, the creatures around you… It doesn’t matter what you’ve done.”

Her eyes were full of acceptance- love, even. “You are my friend. And you will find safe haven, here, with me.”

There was a small ‘ding’ behind the camera that Mara winced at. “Ah, that’s my cue. The other First Ones wanted to speak to me about something important, so I have to go. Wish me luck.”

The hologram cut off then. Adam closed the artifact with his hand, eyes unreadable as he once again backed away. Beside him, Teela clasped her hands together, her heart bleeding for Hordak in that moment.

Hordak only felt numb.

Prime had… Lied to him. To _all_ of them.

His Brothers weren’t born to live in his divine light, gifted with his divine blessings- they were _designed,_ no more holy than the process to make guns. He manipulated everything about them, until they truly were unthinking, unfeeling drones designed to worship and serve. They were all sapient; his Brothers had it stolen from them.

Hordak hadn’t been skipped- he’d been spared.

Prime didn’t love them at all, he realized.

They were slaves.

 _Pets_.

His breathing picked up, blinking back tears as he got up from his seat at the kitchen table. As he stumbled back, the scenery around him flashed and shifted.

Suddenly, he was in a small white room. No windows or doors; just dead bodies at his feet.

He was almost alone; like all his memories, Catra bared witness to them.

“Get up, Little Brother, and come here.”

Catra’s head snapped to Horde Prime, standing a few feet away from them. She bared her fangs at him, moving to stand between the two aliens as her hair fluffed up.

When she looked back to Hordak, he was no longer the adult that knew Teela and Adam. He was a cherub-faced, tear-stained child, cradling a wounded, bleeding arm.

On shaky legs, he approached his Big Brother, stepping over the cold body of a slain clone. He seemed so utterly petrified of the monster in front of him, yet he still went to him, so desperate for the other’s man’s love.

He knew now he’d never get it. 

Horde Prime grabbed Hordak’s small head the moment he stepped within his arm’s reach, dragging him closer with a dark hiss.

Prime lifted him off his feet as he brought him to his height, the littler creature not even daring to kick; his feet hung limply as he winced at the treatment.

“Ahh, yes… _There_. That beautiful feeling… _Pain,_ ” His Big Brother purred, all four of his eyes closing with bliss.

Prime’s invasion into Hordak’s thoughts felt like the entire weight of the ocean behind her eyes, the pressure strong enough to pop her brain like a grape. That release, however, never came; torturously never came, after just a short moment of experiencing it.

When Prime entered Hordak’s mind, the world around Catra grew impossible to decipher, melting into an empty, black void of pure nothingness.

“How I love to experience suffering through you, my beloved Little Brother. It’s like a returning to a delicacy that I know so well, but am still delighted by every time I taste it.”

He grabbed Hordak’s wounded arm, holding the child aloft with talons digging into his cheeks. Hordak let out a deafening screech, his agony rattling the very walls of the memory.

At the sound of his screams, Catra felt her motor functions fail her. A tinny noise grew in her ear when she collapsed, her stomach lurching as her eyes rolled back in her skull.

“Precious Little Brother… This is your purpose. Why I have kept you alive: so you may _suffer_ for me. What a wonderful life you live, so full of meaning.”

His smile was cold.

“So please. Continue to suffer.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang joins Kadroh in their search for answers outside the machine; meanwhile, Hordak and Catra find answers inside, and Hordak is given a great gift.

_Click, click, click._

_Click, clack, click._

The chorus of fingers overlapped the soft hum of the ship. They’d been furiously trying to scrub through the esoteric system that was Horde Prime’s command module, but hadn’t gotten far.

Kadroh called Entrapta shortly after the incident, fearing the worst for her husband. He was hesitant to, as he was concerned for her health; however, he knew she would be devastated if something had happened without her knowledge.

He was shocked to see that the scientist was quite well. She didn’t even have the sniffles. Obviously, given what he was told earlier, he found that quite strange. Kadroh, however, hadn’t spoken up. Perhaps she was afflicted with something unseen; it’d be rude to mention it, wouldn’t it? Humans were quite personal about their internal affairs.

Hearing that Horde Prime’s technology may have malfunctioned, Entrapta immediately called for Glimmer, Bow, and Adora. Both for a ride, and for their help. Adora, too, was surprised to see her well. Like Kadroh, she’d been told that Entrapta was ill; therefore, she’d refrained from her usual checkups on the techie.

Adora received a shrug when she silently nudged Kadroh about it. He couldn’t understand it, either.

Entrapta seemed hardly out of character. She moved with her usual frantic pace, bright eyes darting between her screen, the datapad in her hand, and the main one above her. Her complexion was the same, healthy brown it always was. Adora noticed she might have put on a little more weight, but if she learned _anything_ about social interactions, it was not to bring that up.

If there was anything out of character, it was the furrow of her brow as she focused her efforts and the way her lips were set into a thin frown. 

“Kadroh, can you…” Entrapta trailed off. “Uh…”

Perhaps they’d rushed to give her a pass; the determined expression she wore softened and shifted to mild discomfort. She seemed distracted by something, grunting under her breath as her pigtails fluffed out. “Ugh. Can you hand me that cord, please?” She grumbled, fighting a silent shudder than ran through her.

It wasn’t missed by anyone- Kadroh and Adora most of all.

“You okay, Entrapta?” Glimmer hesitantly asked. “You look like you’re about to puke.”

Entrapta hummed, confused what the Queen meant for a half-second. When it occurred to her that she didn’t usually grimace like that, she cackled. “Oh, yeah! I don’t think Hordak’s the best cook… My stomach’s been really uneasy, lately. I don’t wanna hurt his feelings, though,” She explained, scratching the back of her head.

“Points for trying, I guess,” Glimmer snickered out. It faded steadily, the room a little too uneasy for jokes.

Her gaze turned to Adora, her frown setting back in. “How are you holding up?”

A low, nervous whine, mingled with a muttering of, “Catraaaa…” was what she got.

So. Not exactly well.

Adora kneeled beside Catra’s head where it laid resting on Hordak’s forearm. Their bodies remained where they had fallen, as no one had dared to move them. They were afraid of triggering the machine again. It wasn’t uncomfortable for Catra; she’d be quite incensed by the pictures Bow took of her curled up like a housecat, but she was safe where she was. 

When Adora first saw Catra, she had immediately tried to remove the cable from her hand; however, the grip she had was ironclad around it. When she attempted to simply pull the cord itself, she was zapped by the electricity running through it.

Adora frowned deeply, her eyebrows knitting together. “Are they in pain?” She asked worriedly. Their faces were devoid of all emotion, reacting to nothing in the real world. However, occasionally, Catra would make a small noise, her face twitching.

Bow looked up from his typing, properly stumped like the others. “Well… No, actually. They’re perfectly fine.”

He pulled up their vital signs: agitated, but stable. “The Clones have been reporting that they’ve stopped feeling a crushing, empty sensation, too, so Hordak established himself as the root correctly. I have no idea what’s causing this, but it’s not whatever they were doing before,” He explained.

“They were shocked, but after that, it seems like the electricity is just feeding some sort of… Connection…” Entrapta mumbled, rubbing her chin with her pigtail. “Truly fascinating… I wish Hordak had brought me along, now.”

Humming softly, Kadroh twiddled his thumbs. He tried to fight the urge to ask, but it had completely overwhelmed him.

“Why didn’t you?” He blurted out.

“Uh… He needed someone that was connected to the Hivemind, obviously!” Entrapta cackled, slightly irritated she had to explain that to Kadroh, of all people.

“But you still could have come and helped him,” Glimmer argued, now throwing her investment into the mix.

Entrapta blinked owlishly for a moment, processing the point she made. However, all she did was shrug. “He felt bad I’ve been feeling sick, I guess. He didn’t ask me to come along… Stuff relating to Prime is _really_ personal to him, and he’s still trying to process a lot of it,” She explained, voicing tinging with compassion. “I’m trying to give him space, y’know, when he clearly wants it. He would ask me to come along if it was something he’d want me to help him with! I trust that!”

They couldn’t even get angry at her for not prying; it wasn’t like _any_ of them were expecting to find Hordak and Catra like this. This wasn’t supposed to be this convoluted of a task, despite its risks.

But her healthy communication skills left them with absolutely _nothing_.

Adora opened one of Catra’s eyes to check the flashing. It was still in sync with Hordak’s, turning green when his turned red, and vice versa. “Why is it taking so long to find what he’s doing?” She asked, not looking away from the catgirl.

“Well, from the inside, it’s controlled by simple thought. Navigation outside isn’t so simple, especially now. It’s not like I’ll just _find_ whatever he’s-!”

Kadroh cut himself off mid-sentence, head suddenly jerking back in alarm. Something that was activated had, in fact, caught his eye. His head cocked to one side, the clicking of his talons resuming with far more purpose.

“…He’s using Prime’s Memory Recollection,” He declared after a moment, bewildered and with growing levels of anger. “I can see him looking through the restricted files.”

Sure enough, Kadroh brought what he had on his smaller screen to the larger one. It displayed an extensive collection of files, represented by simple, black squares. They were moving of their own accord, drifting to the middle and vanishing every two or three seconds.

Glimmer caught sight of Hordak’s eye twitch, coinciding with one of those squares disappearing.

Caught red-handed.

“He’s doing this on _purpose!!_ ” She cried, throwing her hands up. “Are you kidding me!? _HE’S_ the one that messed up the machine!!! No wonder we can’t fix it!”

Adora’s frown began to turn bitter. And he brought Catra into this…? What was his thinking?

She closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the suspicion away. No- she _knew_ him. He wasn’t that frightening monster anymore. He didn’t have schemes or plans. She knew how he liked to handle his private matters, and that included involving as few people as possible. 

“There’s something we’re not seeing,” Adora refuted. “Where does Catra come into this, Entrapta? Did he do this to her?”

“It could be that she did it to herself when she pulled out the cord,” Entrapta rationalized. “A case of bad timing on Catra’s part. It must have activated the moment she pulled it out, causing it to glitch.”

So it _was_ just an accident. Hordak was still in a lot of trouble, of course. Now, however, it was because he thought he could just sneak this past any of them. What, like they wouldn’t _notice_?

“It… It could be Hordak didn’t mean to activate it. He was acting strangely, just before the incident,” Kadroh theorized. “He was talking to thin air.”

Entrapta’s hair drooped, slightly- and not just because another wave of queasiness had washed over her. “I might know why Hordak might be interested in memories,” She admitted with a sigh. “Since he’s settled down in Dryl, he’s been experiencing auditory and olfactory flashbacks. Smells and sounds trigger a panic I’ve never seen in him before. It’s like Prime suddenly pops in front of him!”

Adora knew exactly what she was referring to, and she realized that with a start. She’d seen one for herself: Micah had approached Hordak during one visit to Bright Moon, calling out his nickname. The alien’s eyes had widened, filling with an emotion Adora had _never_ seen on his face before. He’d turned his head with far more eagerness than was typically reserved for the human man; however, at the sight of Micah, confusion and devastation overcame him. He’d backed away, clutching his chest as he began to breathe irregularly. He couldn’t explain why he was so suddenly upset, so he’d left in a rush.

Given their past, Adora had written it off as being off-put by Micah in general. Now, she was certain there was something more to it.

Entrapta drifted to Hordak’s opposite side, resting on her pigtail as she leaned over him. She stroked his cheek, magenta eyes nearly red in the low light. Even out of his body, the alien’s head tilted into her touch.

She sighed softly. “Lately, he’s been so distant… He doesn’t even want to-“

Her jaw snapped shut. Whatever Entrapta wanted to say, it died in her throat. “-Anyways,” she mumbled, turning back to her datapad with a small cough. “It’s a strong possibility that Hordak is unaware of Catra’s presence. Or, if he is, he can’t do anything about it.”

Kadroh nodded in confirmation. “He appears to have forced himself into a part of the system that only Horde Prime himself was allowed to see, with no exceptions,” he continued. He attempted to select one of the black squares himself; however, nothing happened.

“I doubt it’ll let him back in a second time. If I were Hordak, Catra or not, I would find what I was looking for regardless,” Entrapta concluded. “The data is just too valuable!!”

“Do you know anything about what he might be looking for?” Bow pressed, leaning more into the clone’s space. “Maybe about Hordak’s days as a Horde clone?”

At _that_ , Kadroh shrunk, letting out a _very_ long hiss between his teeth. “… Not… _Personally_. There was much gossip, spoken in the barest, softest whispers by peons too low to have their minds read. There was talk of a clone that Prime had loved more than all the others. He called him ‘Little Brother’, and doted upon him with great knowledge and privilege.”

Kadroh’s face screwed up in pain, a heavy shudder running through his entire body. “… Such a title comes at a price many cannot afford, and would rather die than pay. Even the most devoted feared the name being directed at them.”

Adora felt her stomach churn, remembering that Catra, too, was Prime’s Little Sister. She’d been fine; she’d done her searching for marks, for signs. She’d found nothing. That almost frightened her more. Catra didn’t remember most of her experience, after all.

Entrapta pressed her forehead to Hordak’s, stroking his jaw as she gazed into his blinking eyes. “Oh, Hordak, I wish you’d told me this is what you wanted. I would have given you a chance to be alone. You know that… You don’t have to tell me everything, if you don’t want to.”

“Well, whatever he’s looking for, he’s found it,” Bow pointed out. “The squares disappearing are his mind experiencing them.”

“So… What do we do?”

“… Basically nothing. By the time we figure this machine out, he’ll probably have seen them all.”

“…Well. Fuck.”

***

A tinny sound rattled inside Catra’s head as she shook to consciousness. The vibration had sunk into her bones, causing her teeth to ache. It faded, however, as the memory gained form and became concrete before her.

Hazily, she took in her surroundings. They were back in the guest room. She was sitting at the foot of Hordak’s bed, her back propped against the wall behind her. Hordak was sleeping- or, rather, pretending to, now- on his side, facing the wall and her.

Adam sat in a chair directly beside him, elbows on his knees as he watched over the alien. His face was unreadable, but his stare was rather dutiful behind his folded hands. It was clear he’d been there for a while; there were heavy bags under his tired, blue eyes.

Catra had thought she figured Adam’s deal out: he was being nice to win Hordak’s trust. She could reason Teela had mistaken Hordak for a wounded, baby bird; Adam, however, was more than in his right to be prejudiced towards him. 

Behind that dazzling smile hid a lot of anger, and yet none of it was directed at the alien. In fact, it seemed to be pointed at everything but. The Eternians most of all, if not with the same level of vehement spite as The Horde. It was hard not to see the personal aspect of it; to Adam, the Eternian Empire had a face that he knew all too well. Catra had no idea what a Prince did, but she imagined it was about as stressful as being a Princess. Everyone watching him, expecting great things… Did he break under that pressure?

Or maybe it wasn’t about his personal feelings at all. Adam was more than brutally aware of the Eternian Empire’s disregard for the few in exchange for the many. Perhaps, one day, he’d opened his eyes to their true nature- just like Hordak had to Prime’s.

Realized it like a slap to the face that the creatures he called his kin were absolute monsters.

“I know you,” He’d said. So firmly, too. Is that what he meant?

Hordak shifted, slightly- aware of the human’s presence, but unprepared for their conversation. He’d been hoping Adam would take the hint and leave.

No such luck. Adam huffed, seeing Hordak move with more purpose. “Hey,” He called quietly. “I know you’re awake, Brother. I’m not leaving, so you might as well roll over.”

Hordak growled, already agitated as he did just that. “What do you want?” He bit out.

Adam sat back, rubbing the back of his neck as he sighed. “I just… Couldn’t go to bed, until we talked about what happened.”

Hordak cringed, face flushing with shame. “Must we?” He hissed.

Adam laughed sheepishly. “Normally, I’d let it slide, but… Yea. We gotta talk about this, buddy. I need to know some things about where your head is at. You started acting like the other clones, screaming about Prime’s wrath.”

Hordak let out a ragged sigh of his own. “I’m fine, in that aspect. My mind simply… Momentarily overreacted.”

“You had a panic attack. Which is normal,” Adam reassured quickly. “I’d be shocked if you didn’t. I mean, that was a lot for you to see.” He offered Hordak a quirk of his lips, then passed him a glass of water from the nightstand.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

A trembling breath rattled out of Hordak’s lips as he sat up. “I-I don’t know how I feel. I don’t think I quite understand…” He stammered. He held the glass with both hands, cradling it like it would shatter if he didn’t. “I am… Not defective?”

“Well… Yes, and no. Not in the way that you claim. It wasn’t your fault you’re the way you are; you didn’t ‘reject’ anything,” Adam elaborated. “The process just skipped you. You were born without the modifications Prime pre-set. A one in a trillion chance… You had some modifications once you were discovered, but by then, you were incapable of connecting to the Hivemind.”

“Prime can connect to me, though,” Hordak pointed out. “That was how he controlled me.”

“It could be The Hivemind and his ability to move his consciousness are two, different things. He can’t enter you now, can he?”

“…No. He has to lay his hands upon me.”

Adam nodded once, sharp with satisfaction. Undoubtedly, that had sat heavily on his mind; it was quite risky to take any clone, considering they were unaware what the distance of control was.

It wouldn’t surprise Hordak in the slightest, now, to learn Prime had some sort of supernatural power. After he’d spent so many years teaching him about its destructive and meaningless nature, it would align with his ideals perfectly to be _completely_ hypocritical.

He only felt violated, when he thought of Prime now. Hearing the truth wasn’t simply realizing Horde Prime was wrong about him- it was realizing that he _knew_ , and had _lied_. He made Hordak believe that his suffering was to repent. That he should adore every sting, because it served a higher purpose. That it would lead to forgiveness for his sins.

What he experienced was everything that Adam and Teela told him it was.

Abuse.

Cruelty.

Pure sadism, done by a creature so old and divorced from the natural world, he tortured other creatures simply to _feel_.

And wasn’t Hordak just the most perfect, convenient little insect? No matter what Prime did, Hordak willingly opened his arms and begged for love. Prime could bring him to near-death, look into his mind, and watch as he forced himself to be joyful about it. To be _thankful_ for it. He believed every lie about the outside world and the Horde’s superiority, and disobeyed his own, gnawing intuition in the hopes of being praised. 

Now, he had no idea what to think of himself. All he knew was that he hated this loathsome form of his with every fiber of his being. He despised the skin, the flesh beneath, and every imperfection that marked him as the Other- a savage. He wished he was no different than his Brothers; at least, then, he could exist and die in peaceful ignorance. Live forever in the Horde by not living at all. It had been such a simple, wonderful thing to him.

He couldn’t have that. He never really could, and he knew that. But now, he couldn’t even bear the thought of wanting it again.

“How could I have been so blind…?” He whispered, curling in on himself. “How can I ever return, now…?”

“…Don’t?” Adam suggested. It was a pretty obvious answer, in his mind.

The alien’s head snapped to attention, the rest of his body following suit. “What? No, I must return to The Horde!! I cannot stray from my duties!!” He cried. He spoke reflexively, but he didn’t mean it. The thought of returning to Prime, enduring another cleansing, and continuing to as he had been made him sick; physically sick, with bile rising in his throat.

The excuse was weak, and Adam was well aware of it. “ _What_ duties? He can train another clone to be his attack dog. Brother, you don’t owe those guys a damn thing,” Adam argued forcefully. “They literally treat you like you’re worthless.”

Hordak bristled, panic setting in. In his mind, there was little alternative. Surely, he had to return. He had no choice. “Where do I go!? I am a monster, if nothing else. I have no safe haven- no place that The Rebellion couldn’t find me!” He exclaimed. “I have no one!!”

Adam smiled at that, eyebrows narrowing. He looked equal parts annoyed and amused. Catra could understand why. What, was he not getting the big picture, or something? Why did Hordak think he was here?

“That’s not true,” Adam contradicted, tone growing soft. “You have me. I’m your friend, Brother.”

Catra watched as Hordak’s ears twitched at the word. He’d heard them use it before, but the way Adam said it now was as if he meant more by it.

Adam didn’t speak for a short breath, contemplating the timing of his next sentence. “Truth is… We’re going to go far away, where neither The Rebellion nor The Horde can find us,” He admitted. “We’ll probably never see most of the familiar universe again. We were about to just get up and go, but... Teela kept thinking about that clone she saw on Eternia. How miserable he must be, and how much pain he must be in.”

He snorted out a laugh and shook his head. “I had thought it was kinda kooky, but I helped her find him, anyways... Imagine my surprise when it turns out I like him, too. He’s got _issues_ , to say the least… But if you let him be himself, he’s surprisingly nice to be around. Soft-spoken. Lonely, even. The kind of person that almost begs to be bothered until they smile.”

Adam reached out to him. He placed his hand on his forearm, where the white met blue in lightning-like patterns. “I think he has a chance to be something bigger than just a clone,” He stated. “And I wanna see what that is.”

Hordak blinked back tears, forcing himself not to grow hopeful. He didn’t want to believe he was being offered something so incredible, only to learn he was mistaken.

“What do you mean, Adam?” He asked, voice choked.

Adam leveled his gaze at him, meeting his eyes to ensure Hordak knew the offer was real. In his ruby gaze, Adam could see himself; in Adam’s blue orbs, Hordak could as well.

“Come with us.”

Hordak let out a small breath. He could feel the fabric underneath his spindly toes, could hear the distant hum of the ship’s engine. He wasn’t dreaming. Adam was truly there, offering him _freedom_. A word that, when he thought of it- of what it would mean- had tears spilling down the corners of his eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked, voice cracked as he fought himself. “I am unworthy, by all metrics. I have killed so many. I have conquered planets, and watched them burn. I deserve nothing.”

Adam shook his head. “You’ve never been given a chance to do anything else,” he refuted. “If you can look me in the eyes and tell me you would do what you’ve done without Horde Prime’s shadow over you, then we can talk about what you deserve.”

Hordak couldn’t. Even when it was easy, he hated death; the pain, the screaming, the suffering of it all. Try as he might to turn his heart off to it, the crawling in his skin would follow him into his nightmares.

“We’ve been watching you, remember?” Adam reminded with a wink. “This has all been a test, to see who you are without him. Maybe The Rebellion wouldn’t forgive you, but I will.”

He leaned in, slightly. “You, me, and Teela. We can just fly away- leave everyone else to burn each other alive. The Universe doesn’t need us?” He huffed. “We don’t need it.”

The rush of warmth Hordak felt made his despair begin to subside. To think, these humans would be so unconditional. That they would offer him their _home_ and the _rest of their lives_ for company. When had he ever received something so incredible?

The life of a clone was fleeting, only promised death by another or their own hand. Never before had he considered there would be a day after this one, and a day after that. With what Adam was offering, there would be. Endless days, even. Until Hordak died by the hand of fate. Just yesterday, that had been so terrifying. But yesterday, he was alone in his visions; now, he had friends.

How pleasant those days suddenly became to him, then.

This was love that they were offering to him, wasn’t it? It felt complete, like the love they offered each other. Now, he knew why. It was real, without motive or interest. When they promised him that the pain was over and it would never come back, they meant it. 

The pain was over. It would never come back. How could two sentences give him so much? For the first time, he felt unburdened. He could just leave with Adam and Teela. It was so simple, and he wanted to doubt it, but he couldn’t. Prime may have ownership of him as Hordak’s creator, but he couldn’t cloud his mind as he could the others.

For Hordak, freedom was always just out of Prime’s arm length.

 _That_ was why Hordak needed to suffer like he did. Horde Prime needed to be brutal- rob him of every single drop of his agency and sense of self, until he was absolutely sure he could control Hordak outside of his grasp. Until he had a creature that he possessed absolute dominion over- mind, body, _and_ soul.

Because _he_ \- Horde Prime- was flawed, and made a flawed machine. That flaw which created Hordak, a defiant clone.

Not defective.

_Defiant._

Hordak would defy Prime’s wishes. He would follow the nice smells of food, happy voices, and pretty things in the distance. Everything Prime hated, he wanted to love with every atom of his being. It was all so chaotic, without any sense of true purpose. But it was beautiful as that tangled mess; a universe that allowed love to exist. To allow creatures that could accept him to exist.

He loved it. Truly loved the universe Teela and Adam lived in.

Catra let her lips quirk up, but the smile was bittersweet. It was tragic, knowing he would take none of it with him to Etheria. This Hordak was fun, cracked jokes, and had a genuine desire to form bonds. And yet, in who knows how much time, it’ll all be gone.

Or not, she realized. _Duh_ \- if they were seeing this now, that meant it wasn’t gone at all. Hordak was seeing it again, right now. What did he think of this? Was he happy to learn the true nature of his mutation? Maybe that’s why he was lingering on Adam and Teela so much. They were telling him useful information about his species.

…Which. Hordak, for some reason, cared about now. Why did he care?

“Adam, I wish to be fully examined the moment Teela awakens. I would like to know everything I can about my species. I want to help Mara finish her research,” He declared proudly. He’d moved from his protective posture, and was now sitting cross-legged on the bed. “The She-Ra was not the demon I thought she was. She was a noble creature with pure compassion for my plight, and I want to repay her for her dedication.”

Adam grinned. “Oh yeah? You know that makes you a Friend of Mara, right?”

Hordak’s ears twitched and lowered, slightly. “I fail to see the significance of that.”

“It’s a secret group made up of people that still believe in the She-Ra. When she was alive, the people who were her direct allies called themselves, ‘Friends of Mara’. That’s what 2585 was- one of the very first.”

Hordak liked the idea of that. If it was good enough for another defective clone, it was good enough for him. “Yes. That is who I am, if I am not The Horde. I will be a Friend of Mara.”

***

“How about this one?”

“I can still see the dot.”

“Really? Even when it’s that dark? Fascinating…”

Upon his request, Teela did further examinations. She’d collected her mountains of notes on Horde anatomy, using them to find Hordak’s variants from them. They littered the floor, a few pages fluttering from their stack as the vents blew air into the ship. Machines that measured sight and hearing sat upon a large metal structure, with many arms like a tree that could be pulled out and pushed back. Out the main view of the window, there was nothing but open space.

This time, Hordak didn’t need to be so exposed; he wore a bodysuit with an open back, once again wearing Adam’s maroon pants. He let his hair fall to one side, having stopped fussing with it to get it to stay back. His gait had lost much of its rigidity, and his mouth was no longer set into such a hard frown. He attributed that to his comfort; both with himself and the humans. He had no idea what he was, but he was learning. It left him with a bit of optimism. It still hadn’t truly sunk in for him that he wasn’t going back, but it was clearly something he was eager to accept.

Hordak blinked at light suddenly filling his vision. “All of my senses are heightened, but my hearing is impeccable,” he explained, ears flicking as he watched Teela push the ophthalmoscope back into the machine. “Sight, however, is my second strongest. My reflexes are twice that of even a catperson.”

“Oh, yeah? Catch!!”

Adam lobbed an apple at Hordak as he entered the room. As expected, the alien caught it mid-air, much to the human’s amused delight.

Hordak almost seemed angry, but he was trying to fight a smirk. “That test was inconclusive, as your throw was pathetic,” he growled.

Adam stuck his tongue out at him, flopping into the Captain’s chair with a scoff. “’That test was inconclusive, blah, blah...’” He mocked, throwing his voice in a poor imitation of Hordak’s. “’Look at me, I think I’m so cute with my passive-aggressive nerd talk-’”

“I don’t sound like that!! My voice is far deeper!!”

“Hey! He’s mine now, Adam. Stop distracting him,” Teela snapped, taking the apple from Hordak and throwing it back. Adam didn’t catch it so gracefully, and fell off his chair with a yelp.

Catra snickered, but stopped the moment she heard Hordak let out quite an unguarded laugh. She’d never heard it before, even from the mature Hordak. He even snorted- the Horde General had a _laughing quirk_. Who knew?

Teela nearly sparkled at it. She, above everyone else, was in the best spirits. She looked between Adam with Hordak with a beaming smile, chest swelling.

Catra moved out of the way as another arm was pulled out of the machine, nonchalantly moving to Hordak’s side as his laughter faded. “Y’know, I figured we would be cool with each other, if you were younger,” she said aloud, crossing her arms. “I did have fun, when we were working together on Bright Moon’s takedown. I mean, you totally never listened to me- but when you did, we were unstoppable. We could have run Etheria before I was old enough to drink.”

Hordak chuckled, dutifully raising his arm when Teela tapped his elbow. Whether the laugh was at Catra or at the offended glare he was getting from Adam, Catra didn’t know. She imagined it was probably both.

“Yes, this is just like what Mara noted!!” Teela cried suddenly. “Your species may have been capable of flight. There’s severed muscle and tendons underneath your shoulder blades. These two knots that make your back hurt? It’s those muscles trying to flex.”

Catra had Hordak both scoffed loudly.

“I could have had _wings_?” Hordak balked. “He really didn’t love me...”

“Tell me about it!!” Catra exclaimed in agreement. “Do you have any idea how useful that would have been!? Adora on that stupid, flying horse?! Obliterated!!”

It was rather cruel, when she stopped to think. That would be like removing her tail, wouldn’t it? She took in her hands, holding the end as it curled around her waist. What a shame that they were missing, she thought; Hordak could have had giant bat wings. Or, at least, she assumed they were bat wings; it would fit with the rest of Hordak’s bat-like nature.

Why would Prime ever want those removed? And, for that matter, why wouldn’t he let himself have them? They certainly weren’t clashing with his style.

“Is that all he removed?” Adam asked teasingly, his eyebrow raising. He slowly wheeled himself to Teela’s side, face positively alight with mischief.

Teela’s eyes flashed, and she appeared to fighting a similar mischief inside her. “Well… Mara did that kind of research,” She pointed out, tone careful. “I don’t think it’s necessary. I have the notes.”

“Well, you know, Teela... Prime could have removed it, this time. I mean, the man has clearly been experimenting with those modifications.”

“He can’t get rid of everything. Some organs are connected to other functions, or would cause the cavity to collapse if taken out.”

“Ahh. Hence why he turns their hormonal responses down to such a degree… But Hordak doesn’t have those modifications, does he?”

“… He doesn’t.”

Hordak’s head cocked to one side. “Get rid of what?” He asked, having lost track of the conversation. “What are we talking about?”

Teela and Adam silently exchanged a fascinating array of emotions to each other in the span of a few seconds.

The woman shook her head subtly, as if daring her husband to embarrass Hordak in front of her. She’d explain it to him, later. “Nothing, honey. Can I look at your hair next?” Teela asked, subtly kicking Adam’s chair- and Adam- far away from them.

Catra’s mouth was agape, a hysterical laugh threatening to force itself from her mouth in choked gasps. Poor Hordak. Ignorance is bliss, in some ways. “You are being circled by sharks, and you have no idea.”

Hordak sat down, keeping his eyes closed as Teela ran her hands through his midnight-blue hair. Like all the times before, a strange thrill ran through him. When Prime touched it, the callous nature it was treated with made Hordak cringe. Teela, however, had no metal claws. Her hands were delicate, separating the follicles to examine the roots.

He purred almost immediately, the sound ringing deep in his chest.

Teela laughed, taking her hands away. “Do you like your hair being messed with that much?” She questioned. Her fingers were tingling, slightly, as if she’d put her hand on the hood of an engine.

Hordak flushed, hurriedly fixing his hair back to its proper place. “Apparently, yes. I apologize if it’s uncomfortable-“

“Not at all! Like I said before, there’s no judgement, here.”

Teela hummed softly, tapping her fingertips to her chin as she eyed him. “…I wonder…” She mumbled.

Without explanation, she brought a glass from the captain’s desk to the small table beside Hordak.

“In all the clones I’ve dissected, I’ve found evidence that the vocal chords have been tampered with. There might even be a small organ in your throat that was removed,” Teela explained. “Despite that, your kind is still very, _very_ loud. I want you to try and make a sharp sound… Can you whistle?”

Of course he could. It wasn’t a particularly difficult skill. He eyed the glass for a moment, nervous about breaking it; with that in mind, the whistle that moved past his lips was a low tone.

Despite his mindfulness, Catra still had to cover her ears. The water in the glass trembled visibly. Teela had been right- it was like the noise was being amplified by something. Catra remembered how Hordak’s yelling would seem to shake the walls of the Fright Zone, and she let out a small, “Huh,” of realization. Amazing that he could still carry a sound that loudly, even with the organ in his throat removed.

“Ah! Just as I thought!” Teela chirped happily. “Brother, your species had a dominion over sound. Undoubtedly, had your magical abilities not been tampered with, you would have been able to channel it to some incredible effects.”

Catra let out a coo of awe. Again, Hordak being able to control sound in some way would have been _really_ helpful against _several_ Princesses. Why Prime would want to destroy that was beyond her comprehension.

She couldn’t wait to relay this all to Entrapta. The scientist would have an absolute field day. It was the first time Catra could understand how sciences could be so exciting to her.

“From just a physical alone, I can determine a few things: you were an apex predator, dwelling in caves and dark places. You have a natural instinct to protect young, far stronger than a human’s. Your species was undoubtedly highly intelligent, but lived rather peacefully. They would have deep emotional bonds with each other and their environment.”

Hordak was astounded. “You can tell all that just by looking at me?”

Teela nodded. “Nature is creative, but she likes to keep things efficient. Things develop according to a set of rules. Therefore, I can look at your anatomy and behavior, and by analyzing what would be required to have those develop in the first place, I can understand more about your kind.”

He grunted under his breath, the tips of his ears turning red. “Well, you make my kind sound like they were frail and weak-hearted.”

“Not at all! The opposite, actually. They probably could only be that nurturing and peaceful because they had little threat in their lives. You’re still incredibly strong, without Prime’s modifications,” She explained further. She crossed her arms, smiling warmly. “And I think it’s lovely that you have a desire to nurture and protect. I won’t have to worry too much about the baby, with you around.”

Hordak sunk in his chair, shaking his head. “If you say so… We’ll have to see.”

Adam wheeled back to the other two with a small huff. “Alright. So, Brother. We’ve got to go on a few fetch quests, before we can really go. We want to be out of the known galaxies by the time Teela’s ready to give birth, but that’s not for a while. In the meantime… Any unfinished business you have, you should probably get it settled, now.”

Hordak thought for a moment, ears falling almost flat. There was one thing that had been sitting in the back of his mind. It was horribly dangerous; however, he remembered what Adam told him on Kakala.

After a few seconds, Hordak spoke up. “You told me that, when we see people that are in need of help, we help them,” he stated, looking to Adam. “When we were shopping, those mercenaries mentioned the Prison Planet, Fadella. They said my Brothers are being held captive there- tortured for entertainment.”

Adam saw where he was going with a heavy grimace. “Brother, I said that, but clones…? As much as I want to, they can’t be helped. They go completely feral, without-“

“I know that!!” He cut in sharply. Hordak’s expression had completely shifted, his brow setting in determination. “Mara said there might be a chance I could help them. This is the perfect chance to test that theory. If I can free more of my Brothers, then… I want to do it.”

He looked to them both. “That’s why I’m so valuable to you, isn’t it? With me, the Rebellion could end Prime’s dominion in one fell swoop. He is a powerful god because of the sheer volume of the Horde; without any of us to control, he is but one creature.”

To say Adam and Teela looked caught would be an understatement. “That’s… what my Dad was hoping for,” Teela explained with a wince. “Us, too. Does that upset you?”

He shook his head. “No. The opposite, actually. I could mend what Prime has destroyed. That would upset him deeply, and that…”

He grinned. “That would make me very happy.”

It didn’t take more than that to convince Adam. He mirrored his grin with his own, wolfish one, clapping his shoulder. “Good enough for me! Burn some bridges on your way out. I like your style, Brother.”

Teela nodded as well. “Prison Planet it is, then. We’ll need to think of a plan- ever since it’s been placed under new management, that place has become an absolute hellhole.”

She went to the pilot’s chair and began to type into the command module. After a second of doing this, information about Fadella popped up. That included a hazy image of an absolutely terrifying figure with a skull for a head, the sockets lit by two, orange dots. He was dressed in regal armor, backed by an army of his own.

Catra paled at the sight of such a terrifying creature; however, Hordak let out a long, low groan of irritation, his lip curling up in distaste.

“Oh, _hell_. Not this bastard, again…”

***

While Entrapta mildly protested the bucket, she was glad Bow was kind enough to bring her one.

The need for it had been quite sudden. She had been speaking to Kadroh about more of Hordak’s strange behavior at home. He wasn’t moody; actually, Hordak seemed in rather high spirits with his wife. It was why she hardly questioned his actions; he held her with the same, cherishing gentleness. If anything, he treated her more like a Queen than he normally did.

And it was when she remembered his loving touch that she felt her stomach twist and lurch with an aggressive insistence. She buried her face into the bucket with a whimper, her eyes widening in the brief moment she had between realizing she was going to throw up and actually doing so.

The sound of her breakfast hitting the bucket made them all cringe. Kadroh pouted, placing a comforting hand on her back.

When Entrapta lifted her head, she was significantly paler. “I-I feel really tired, all of the sudden…” She groaned weakly. “Ugh… I may go and lay down in one of the sleeping pods.”

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. “… Entrapta, you said you’ve been throwing up _how much_?”

“Once or twice a day, for the last three weeks,” Entrapta responded casually, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Why do you ask?”

“Has Hordak cooked that often?”

“Uh… No, actually…”

Bow caught on to what Glimmer was implying. “Entrapta, if it was his cooking, you wouldn’t puke twice in a row, and you wouldn’t puke if you weren’t eating his food,” He pointed out to her, copying Glimmer’s concerned and perplexed expression. “You wouldn’t feel fatigued, either.”

Glimmer opened her mouth to say more- however, a thought that popped in her mind made her eyes grow large and her own face turn pale. “…H-Hey… Entrapta…” She began, wringing her hands nervously.

It clicked then, for Adora. Her head snapped to Entrapta, her jaw dropping. 

“You… Have you considered you might be…? You know… Pregnant?”

There was a long stretch of silence.

Entrapta stared blankly at the group. “That’s not possi- _well_ … I mean, I did tests on our compatibility, once. There wasn’t enough information about Hordak’s species…” She trailed off.

However, the more she thought about it, the more her condition started to make perfect sense. She’d felt exhausted by everything- like something else was draining most of her body’s energy. She had strange cravings for sweet things, but would certainly throw up if she ate anything with unnatural sweeteners. And, as if to add insult to injury, she’d been gaining weight at a rate she’d never experienced before.

Like something else was growing very quickly inside her.

“...Oh.” She blinked owlishly. Her hair suddenly fluffed up. “Ohh…”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Nah,” He drawled, nose scrunching up with his smile. “I’m here to steal it."  
> -
> 
> Hordak, Adam, and Teela prepare for their trip to Fadella, and Hordak grows closer to the couple.

_Had he not just welcomed him, he would have thought a demon had come to visit._

_“Oh, wow. Didn’t know you made them this small!”_

_This, however, was no demon. Lord Skeletor was a lich- an ancient, undead creature reanimated by magic. An ally to his Big Brother, if only for the moment. The skeletal form he possessed was tall and foreboding, his shoulders perpetually slumped forward and his arms hanging limply. He wore faded, royal garb, bandages covering rotting flesh underneath. Over it all, he wore a deep, violet cloak, the ends of it blackened and tattered._

_While his Big Brother, under normal circumstances, would never turn to magic… The destruction of Eternia was not a normal circumstance. It wasn’t magic he requested of him, anyways; Lord Skeletor was a respected member of the Eternian Court. Truly, however, he was in allegiance with Horde Prime. His Big Brother had offered him the planet in exchange for Lord Skeletor’s betrayal. Quite gleefully, the lich had accepted the offer, and was now meeting regularly with Prime to discuss their plot._

_This was the first time Lord Skeletor met Horde Prime’s Little Brother. He was quite entranced, as most were when he was brought out to be shown._

_The grim’s shadow towered over him. Well behaved as he was, the Little Brother bowed his head and kept his arms folded neatly behind his back. The watchful eye of his Big Brother reminded him to keep his posture straight and his expression composed, though his hands trembled with terror._

_Mustn’t embarrass Big Brother, he was told._

_He would obey._

_Lord Skeletor lowered himself to the Little Brother’s height, head tilting curiously as he tried to catch the creature’s gaze. He couldn’t get it; the small creature was obviously spooked by him._

_“Would you like for it to accompany us? I have trained it well,” Prime offered, raising an eyebrow. “Unfortunately I’ll have to request you not feed it anything; it has failed me, so it is being punished.”_

_“Really? What did it do?” Lord Skeletor’s voice was more of a sharp squawk than anything else. Everytime he spoke, both Prime and his Little Brothers’ ears would twitch. Less unpleasant than nails on a chalkboard, but not by much._

_He began circling him for a further look at the unique clone. The Little Brother lifted his head as he did so, his shoulders tensing as the orange, lantern-like lights in Lord Skeletor’s eye sockets finally caught his._

_Prime took in the sight of Skeletor and his brother with complete apathy. “Oh… I wished to see it devour one of the guests I had brought from the Notamane Quadrant. It refused to do so, so it is being starved until it learns.”_

_The Little Brother couldn’t fight the way his stomach clenched in response._

_Lord Skeletor let out a small cackle, the noise echoing in his empty chest cavity. “Refused? Never heard of that before. You got a little bit of bite, eh, little guy?” He asked, voice rising with what must have been an attempt to charm him._

_He looked ready to cry._

_Prime waved his hand irritably. “Enough about the mutant. I called you here to discuss our plans to conquer Eternia. You claim you can get close to the King…?”_

_“Oh, right!! Yeah!! Of course I can, we’re BEST friends! I’ll kill him and his bratty child before anyone even notices. The empire is yours- I just want to rule Eternia like I DESERVE.”_

_Lord Skeletor had not taken his eyes from Prime’s Little Brother. “Isn’t that right, ‘lil guy? Wouldn’t I make a much better King?” He cooed, pinching his cheek with his claw. “I can’t get over it- it’s so cute! You should sell some of these, I know plenty of people that would love one.”_

_“I’m sure. Fortunately, my Little Brother is one of a kind,” Horde Prime refuted. “It is a lowly mutant, seeking penance. I have my reasons for keeping it alive, which are none of your concern.”_

_Lord Skeletor rose to his full height once more. “What can it do? If you don’t mind me asking…”_

_“Whatever it’s told.” Horde Prime’s gazed snapped to him, narrowing with distaste. “Little Brother, why are you not bowing to your guest? Bow, immediately.”_

_He obeyed, before his Big Brother could even finish his sentence. The crack of his knees as he hit the floor was sharp, but the little creature bowed to Lord Skeletor with the forcefulness of utmost devotion._

_Lord Skeletor tapped his chin at the sight, teeth rattling as he thought. “Listen… Could I borrow this kid for a while?” He asked after a moment. “It’s smart, right?”_

_Prime laughed lightly at that. “More intelligent that you, Lich. I place it under rigorous training to ensure that,” he proclaimed. “It surpasses my other creations in all tests of mental fortitude and intelligence. Even my most defective are, after all, still creations of mine.”_

_The Little Brother’s heart swelled. That was praise- he knew it when he heard it._

_Bones and metal clinked as Skeletor clapped his hands once. “Good! I need a tiny thing I can shove into tight spaces. My damn ship is full of them, and my last grease monkey was eaten by an Alternian.”_

_“Is there a possibility it will perish, doing so?” Horde Prime’s eyes remained on his Little Brother. He had proven himself adept with machinery, but he was hardly exemplary. He was far more capable at software and programming._

_“If it makes a mistake, yeah,” was the lich’s response._

_“Then by all means. Take it. Feel free to treat it as I do.” Prime sealed his fate with a pleased grin. “Teach it to kill Eternians. I’m assuming you’re a talented warrior, yes…?”_

_“Oh, the greatest! I’ll be a wonderful teacher!!” Lord Skeletor exclaimed._

_The little clone jolted as a heavy, metallic hand dropped onto his head, patting it with a force that made him wince. Lord Skeletor, clearly, was attempting to smile, but he had no lips to do so. “Ya hear that, kiddo? Uncle Skeletor is going to teach you how to murder! Isn’t that fun?” He cooed._

_The Little Brother blinked; the tears which had been building in the corners of his eyes spilled over. He squirmed free of his grasp aggressively, and scrambled to his elder Brother._

_He couldn’t bear the thought of being near the lich, let alone the thought remaining by his side and loving him as he did his Elder Brother. He cowered at Prime’s feet, silently begging for mercy with his orb-like, green eyes, gripping his Brother’s robes tightly._

_Prime only sighed, knocking him from his leg with a kick. “Go to him, Little Brother. He is your Master until I say so,” he declared, voice edged with a teasing tone._

_The clone clambered to his feet, wiping his eyes as he bowed his head once more._

_Skeletor let out a low huff, the sound hollow as air was forced through bone. “Huh. Can’t imagine why he doesn’t like me. I’m great with kids!”_

_Prime placed his hand on his Little Brother’s head, his claws digging into his temples._

_“It will not run from you again. Isn’t that right, Little Brother?”_

_He nodded the moment his head was released._

_Of course he would obey._

_Why would he ever run?_

***

“Hello, Adam.”

The whisper carried a teasing lilt as it brushed over the human’s ear. In response, Adam jolted in alarm, his strawberry-blonde hair standing on end as he whipped around. “Wha-!?“

He clicked his tongue irritably at the sight of Hordak’s smug grin. Knowing it was a familiar alien, however, the stiffness of his shoulders immediately lessened, and he shoved him playfully out of his way. “Proud of that?” He scoffed, lips curled into a sneer.

Hordak snickered, hands tucked behind his back in mock innocence. “Yes, actually. I was right. Fair ones scream the loudest,” he shot back. “This place is boring. Let’s find this rat and get out of here.”

The difference was stark now. Hordak looked nothing like when he first met Adam, in both attitude and dress. He wore a black bodysuit with baggy, dark grey trousers tucked into his boots. He still had the crimson hood he’d gotten from Soaring Comet, but it was down. His dark blue hair was messy, treated with an almost practiced level of apathy. It still naturally fell to one side, however, which gave him quite a bit of youth.

The posture the alien carried- his entire being, even- had changed with a blink. More time must have passed; more than Catra had experienced. A moment ago, she was following Hordak and Adam down to the lower deck. Suddenly, the lower deck was a series of dimly lit hallways of decrepit metal.

Adam choked out a laugh as Hordak fell into step next to him. There was something horribly familiar about the way they moved; like they’d known each other for far longer than a week. Hordak shifted from Adam’s left and right occasionally, preferring to orbit around him as Adam moved straight ahead. He even turned to walk backwards to address Adam more directly.

The movement seemed to amuse the human, but he didn’t comment on it. “So why didn’t you kill him when Prime told you to?” He asked instead.

“Honestly? I didn’t feel like it,” Hordak admitted with a shrug. “He’s a scavenger; hardly the most dangerous threat to the Horde. So what if he has some of our technology? He’d have to learn how to use it, first, and _good_ _luck_ with that. Prime never asked about it, so I thought it was fine.”

Adam cocked his eyebrow at that. “Did he really trust you that much?”

Hordak hummed as he thought the question over. “No… As an adult, I’ve been to the Mothership twice. I’ve rarely seen Prime, since he sent me to invade and conquer the galaxies. And I’ve rarely heard from him, as well. He makes a point not to speak to me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Hah! Sounds like you got big enough to fight back, and he got scared of you,” Adam interjected. 

“Hm… Maybe. Prime’s greatest flaw is that he despises knowledge that he deems ‘degenerate’,” Hordak explained. “If he was willing to understand more about sapience- more than just how to take it away- he would understand why you are willing to die fighting him. And… He would understand why leaving me alone with the ability to process the world around me was a horrible idea.”

He turned around, falling back to Adam’s side as they rounded a corner. “You were right; the more he oppressed, the more the urge to disobey grew in me,” he concluded.

Much like the human, Hordak now seemed to wear a permanent smile. Although far more subtle and hinted with a bit of smugness, it grew prominent, then. “And then, of course, I met you,” He added. “All I needed was a friend to tell me the truth.”

“Aw, Brother, you’re gonna make me cry.” Adam actually did seem quite touched. His gaze had flitted away from Hordak, the lightest pink coming to his cheeks.

Now, it was Hordak’s turn to laugh. “Please don’t. I can’t afford to be seen here with someone who cries.”

That “here” was a station on the edge of Horde territory. When Catra looked out the window, she could see a line of smooth, white ships sitting in a uniform line less than a planet’s distance away. The side of the station had the Horde symbol painted on its side, signifying it had experienced a successful siege and takeover.

Strangely, though, it was devoid of any clones. The station appeared to be in some sort of no-man’s land between the Empire and the Horde, as the Eternian Guard was just behind them. It was the perfect place for criminals to meet and interact, and they certainly saw the shadier individuals moving past them in quicker steps.

Judging by the condition of the station itself, it seemed like either side expected it to just fall apart at any moment. The siege that had taken place on it had removed the station of its former glory, and no one had bothered to repair. Hordak dare not place his hand on the railing. It was decrepit and cluttered, the scaffolding equally full of gaping holes. Junk was dumped wherever there was space, and they had to be careful not to step underneath any of it. The entire station had an eerie, yellow glow, as if even the light it emitted was sickly and dying.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes rushed by them, paying Hordak no mind despite his identity being plain to see. When someone did take notice of him, they stopped to let him pass, head bowed fearfully.

Hordak belonged there; he was the Horde General, after all. It would be a death wish to question him.

When they’d entered the station, it was Adam the guards took issue with. Hordak had to properly reassure them that he was his captive, and therefore his property. Even then, those that recognized Adam eyed him with murderous intent.

“Do you think it’s because I’m Eternian?” He asked flatly.

“I think it’s because you exude an aura of, ‘Please come and kick my ass, I am positively begging for it’,” was Hordak’s teasing response.

Catra cackled at that. Hordak used to tell _jokes?_

If only he was this sarcastic when he was on Etheria. It would, at the very least, have made her life far more entertaining. “Oh, man, I wonder how bad you would have dragged Shadow Weaver. I bet you did in your head constantly. Of all the people you surrounded yourself with, you always seemed to hate her the most.”

She could guess easily it was the magic. Inside these memories was crucial information about magic that he wouldn’t learn about again until he met the sorceress. Catra knew from experience Shadow Weaver wasn’t the most forgiving teacher. It had also been pretty obvious as she grew up that something had soured any sense of friendship they might have had; what that was, she was unaware. After interacting with Hordak for long enough, it became obvious who he cared little for, who he liked, and who he _loathed_.

This behavior, though, was new. Hordak seemed glued to Adam’s hip, and the other likewise.

Catra let out a small sigh. It was obvious, now, why Hordak lingered on Adam.

Adam had been his best friend.

Hordak wanted to see what happened to him, she realized. Catra had quickly assumed that Hordak would betray them. Yet, after watching them interact for just a moment, it became obvious that was the farthest thing from his desires.

That meant Adam and Teela might still be alive. Hordak had clearly realized that before her; he was combing through all the memories of them, searching for their possible locations.

“I don’t know how useful looking through all your memories will be… There’s no guarantee this stuff will be around in our time,” Catra reminded. It wasn’t impossible, though, and her chest swelled with hope. She’d love to meet Adam and Teela, for real.

The trio turned a sharp right at the end of the corridor, immediately coming upon a set of large, iron doors. There was a small numeric panel on the wall beside it. With digits entered quickly by talons, the doors slid open with a loud hiss.

They were greeted with smoke and an orchestra of grinding noise. Ships sat in rows of varying states of repair, their hulls marred with bulletholes and impact burns. Sparks rained down onto the walkway from above, fizzling out before ever touching the grated scaffolding.

This room was far more spacious, but, again, the clutter that filled it created a near-choking sense of claustrophobia.

These were the farthest from Eternian standards; even the air felt grungy.

At the sight of Adam, the armed few rose and approached. These patrons were far more confident in addressing his presence, drawing blasters and knives from their pockets.

“It’s the _Prince_ -!!”

At the sudden approach of a creature, Hordak drew his own blade. It was a fluid, silent action, but it stopped them dead in their tracks. He let out a deep growl of his own, reminding them the consequences of picking fights with him.

In response, they scattered like roaches under a flashlight, disappearing into the clutter around them.

Adam’s shoulders tensed. “Guess I’m a little more hated than I thought,” He commented under his breath, smiling nervously. “Shocking, how reputations follow you.”

Hordak didn’t sheath his blade, yet, but he did relax his grip. With a huff, he placed a reassuring hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Why are they so cross with you?” He asked.

The hand didn’t help his unease; in fact, the question seemed to worsen Adam’s anxiety. “Well… Brother, I’m sure you’re aware, but the Empire is falling fast. That’s not an accident; it’s falling because of my absence,” He explained. “My father is dying, and there’s no heir. No one with enough authority can stop the in-fighting happening.”

He turned his head away, sucking air through his teeth. “And, not only that… They no longer have access to magic. Etheria has been missing for eons, and the last of Eternia’s magic resides in me. Magic that can only be channeled through the Sword of Power… which kills me, if I use it.”

Adam tugged at his collar nervously. “All these people were probably enjoying their cushy Empire jobs, before I came along and started breaking things…” He gulped.

Quickly, he took Hordak’s arm and pulled him towards the lift in the center of the room. They arrived just as it was departing for the second floor, both stepping onto it with hardly a stumble.

Catra had been left behind- or so she thought. When she blinked, she was right by their side again. It was so sudden, the fur on her tail fluffed out in alarm. “Ugh, I hate that…” She grouched, joining their huddle with crossed arms.

Adam huffed. It was obviously coincidence, but Adam’s eyes had landed on the space she resided in. She could appreciate how handsome he was, even when she _definitely_ didn’t like men. When his expression relaxed, it was almost enough to make her heart skip.

_Almost._

“They’re scrounging up magic like it’s a commodity from other planets, but none of it compares to the Sword of Power,” Adam said. “It’s second only to the She-Ra blade in its capabilities. Even in the hands of a laymen, it can wipe out thousand-man armies. And in the hands of its rightful, Eternian heir… It’s a power that rules galaxies.”

As he spoke, their eyes followed his hand to his back. Hidden underneath Adam’s jacket was the Sword of Power itself, tucked innocently into a simple, leather sheath.

Adam’s fingertips brushed over the hilt in a fond gesture; still, the blade let out a small spark that snapped his hand away. 

He hissed out a low curse, scowling at the weapon over his shoulder. “Of course, it’s not like I can use it much, either… It’s for emergencies, only.”

Hordak’s ears perked up, confusion filling his features. “They did possess the sword. Why did they have it locked away, instead of using it?”

Adam huffed out a laugh. “My fault. The sword is powerful as it is, yes- anyone can use it to devastating effects. But the source of its _true_ power is Eternia’s magic, which is passed down through the royal family. That’s what they really want. My father made the grave mistake of passing the magic to me, and I can pass it on to someone else...”

“…Yet you won’t,” Hordak added.

Adam shook his head. “I won’t. It will die with me, Brother, if the gods will allow it,” he declared. The inflection of his voice was telling; he spoke with a pleasant tone, but he was gravely serious.

He sighed deeply- dejectedly, even. Briefly, when he closed his eyes, Hordak wondered what he saw behind his eyelids. Did he see the Eternian fields? The blue skies? Did he see the gleaming Castle Grayskull, a stronghold thought never to crumble?

“I spent my entire life training for the day I would wield the Sword of Power. I’m the only one who could save the Eternian Empire, now…” Adam said distantly. “But… I can’t go back.”

Hordak frowned, ears drooping again. “Because your father disapproved of Teela.”

Adam smiled once more at the statement, eyes opening. “Not exactly,” he said simply. “He didn’t approve of me choosing _her_ over a Princess.”

“I fail to see how a Princess is any better than Teela.”

“I _know_ , right?”

“I find it a little silly, actually, he would raise such a fuss over the mother of your child. Does it really matter that much?”

“Well… In this case, maybe.”

As the lift came to a stop and they stepped off, Hordak began looking for his target. “We’ll continue this conversation later… Our little rat is over there,” He declared.

Red eyes flitted to a particularly pristine ship located in the back of the garage- small, but with a noticeable trailer hooked to the back of it. He made a beeline for it, with Adam following quickly behind.

The mechanic they were looking for was a stout dwarf. He was hastily moving items to and from his ship’s lift, clearly in a rush to leave before anyone noticed he was there. His back, however, was to them, and his dedication to his loading and unloading left him deaf to their approach.

“Hey there!!” Adam chirped, charging ahead.

The mechanic’s head shot up, brows furrowing at the man approaching him. Recognition crossed his features, followed by confusion. “Aren’t you Prince Adam?” he asked, bewildered. “I keep hearing mutterings about you being… Around… With-“

His eyes moved from Adam to Hordak.

“HORDE GENERAL!!”

Obviously, he tried to bolt. It was an understandable thing to do.

Sighing under his breath, Hordak began to stalk him, moving closer without any real rush. The mechanic was cornered in the little space, and had little place to run. With Adam by the only true exit, Hordak easily cowed him against the side of his ship.

The man whimpered feebly, sweating profusely as Hordak stared him down. “G-G-General, I-I assure you, wh-whatever reason you’re here, I-I have obeyed Prime. S-So gracious is his-“

“You stole parts from a Horde Ship in the aftermath of a star fight. That is correct, yes?” Hordak cut in harshly. His voice carried its gravelly, dangerous tone. “Do not lie to me.”

Color drained from the dwarf’s face. That was all the answer Hordak needed, and he huffed. He grabbed him by his collar, lifting the man off his feet like he was nothing. “Go check his ship, Adam. It’s a small, white box with a glass panel on one side,” He ordered, not tearing his gaze from the mechanic.

The man looked shocked as he was placed onto a load of crates; right where Hordak could see him, but without a scratch nonetheless. “You…. Are you here to kill me for having Horde technology…?” he asked fearfully.

A ruby red grin stretched across Hordak’s lips.

“Nah,” He drawled, nose scrunching up with his smile. “I’m here to steal it.”

Catra followed Adam’s ascension into the ship. When she poked her head in, she only saw blurry silhouettes of a ship’s interior. Adam would vanish and reappear in accordance with Hordak’s line of sight, but the clattering of the human’s frantic search was always present.

A few moments later, they heard a triumphant cry. “Got it!” Adam called, poking his head out. With a playful wink, he held up a white box the size of his palm. He tossed it down to Hordak, who caught it easily. He dropped to the ground with a grunt, brushing off his hands with a hum.

Hordak nodded with satisfaction, tossing the box lazily into the air with one hand and catching it with the other. “With this, we’ll be undetectable. This cloaking device is worth a planet’s weight in gold for a reason,” he declared. With that in mind, he was far more delicate with it, and placed it into one of the many pockets of his trousers.

The mechanic let out a desperate whine from his place atop the boxes. He was very aware of its price, hence why he took it. However, the fact he was leaving with his life would certainly make up for the lost value of the item. Really, he should be thanking Hordak; now he had a chance to steal another.

That one Hordak would gladly let him keep.

Just as they were preparing to leave the man empty-handed, they were shook by a loud, unnatural shriek. Adam cried out in pain as he covered his ears; likewise, the dwarf shielded his own. Hordak, however, was left unaffected, though his ears did shoot up with alertness at the sound.

The lights went out- a dark red hue replaced the yellow as the emergency lights kicked in.

At first, Hordak feared the station was finally falling apart. However, a cold wash of knowing fear went over him as a deep, sinister voice cooed into the empty air.

“Greetings, my beloved Horde.”

The voice was coming from above them, broadcasted over the intercom system.

Hordak hissed under his breath, and Adam instinctively reached for his blaster. They shared one moment of eye contact, speaking without words as they nodded to one another. Together, they quickly rushed out of the corner and to the more common areas, searching for a screen.

“Right now, I am speaking to the entirety of my flock, across all of the space we have liberated from the _sin_ of the Empire,” Horde Prime continued overhead as they ran. “It is a gift to you; however, this is an unfortunate necessity for me.”

They rounded a corner, coming upon a small cluster of people gathered around a television.

On the screen, in his absolute glory, was Horde Prime.

Catra hissed lowly. “I was wondering when you were coming back,” She grumbled, stepping out from behind Hordak. In the back of the crowd, they had some momentary anonymity. It wouldn’t last, however; they’d already been spotted all over the station. Even now, they could see some patrons begin to tilt their heads to and fro, searching for him. Leaving, now, would be a necessity. If they lingered, someone could call the Horde Ships to the station, and they would have little place to run.

Prime sat on his throne, poised to carefully imply nonchalance and confidence. However, he was rapping the tips of his claws against the metallic arm of his seat- a sign of impatience, and clear irritation. She imagined he was more than just irritated, though; he was, no doubt, withholding much of his true fury to save face.

Two of his eyes narrowed as he took a small pause. Fluorescent, green teeth peeked out as his lip curled, his contempt leaking into his features. 

“Oh, Little Brother…” Horde Prime sighed, tutting softly. “I know you can hear me, you naughty creature.”

Hordak’s jaw clenched, his breath leaving him in a harsh puff of air.

Prime was speaking to Hordak, and Hordak alone.

“Little Brother, when your Brothers came to me and said you had abandoned me, do you know what I did?” Prime asked rhetorically, voice gentle as he leaned forward. “I _killed_ them. I know of their spite towards you. Of course I do; it is one of the few emotions I allow them.”

Catra balked at that. How absolutely fucked, she thought. He had Hordak’s misery down to a science. He created a world that loathed Hordak, down to the finest detail. He had no one to turn to in the Horde for guidance; no one to see as worthy of trust. When Horde Prime programmed ire and hatred of him into his Brothers, and they rejected him… Of course, where else could a creature go?

Hordak hadn’t seemed to realize that before, but he did now. 

Prime had continued. “I thought to myself, ‘my Little Brother is _truly_ devoted to me, unlike the others. He follows me because of his _love_. His _love_ for me overflows; surely, their memories lie. He would never _betray_ me...’”

He leaned back again, placing a hand over his heart. “And, yet… I have begun to hear such… Concerning things…” All four of his eyes narrowed. “Or, really… I hear _nothing_. Little Brother, you are _silent_. I have received report after report of you acting of your own accord. Accounts of you running amok with humans- with _Eternians_.”

There was low murmurings at such a claim. A clone, going AWOL? Even though Hordak was a different clone, certainly he was still a clone; how could he possibly defect from the Horde?

Yet, there he was, right behind them. The ones that took note of him, finally, pointed him out to the others.

The Horde General- No Horde symbols to be seen, standing side-by-side with the Prince of Eternia.

Prime’s back straightened out as he regained his poise. “Little Brother, you are despicable for what you have done. Using your mutations to _hide_ from me, like a little rat…” He cooed lowly. “I gave you _life_. I gave you _purpose_. And _this_ is how you repay me? By spitting in my face?” His tone lost every bit of its false, loving kindness. Instead, he took on an air of hurt and offense.

Knowing what she knew, the tone only infuriated Catra.

“You will return to me,” he declared matter-of-factly. “The Universe is cruel, Little Brother. These creatures will never love you as I do; they will never trust you, after the things you have done to them. You are a vile mutant to me, but you are a _monster_ to them. You will learn quickly that the only safety you have is within the Horde, and you _will_ return. I will forgive you, little one, for your straying…. But do _not_ force me hunt you down.”

The screen grew dark, then. The lights of the satellite came back on, the sound of airflow kicking in dully.

Every pair and set of eyes were on Hordak and Adam. Catra could hear the distant creaks and groans of the ship, as all activity and voices were rendered silent. The tense air among them was palatable.

It almost seemed like the crowd was unsure of what to do. Clearly, some wanted to jump them; however, Hordak was still Hordak- how dangerous he was didn’t change with his allegiance. Attacking him no matter the numbers was incredibly unwise.

Hordak placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, gripping it threateningly. “Would anyone care to try and win Prime’s favor?” He asked aloud, tilting his head to one side. “It’s two against thirty, after all.”

Adam smirked at the way the crowd shrank from him. He tapped his arm, gesturing for the alien to follow. “We got what we wanted; no need to start a fight,” He reminded. “They’re not looking to die today, either. By the time they rat us out, we’ll be lightyears away.”

“True…”

“Not like we would.” Someone- faceless blurry- spoke. “Honestly? Fuck that guy. I’ll trust you to leave, at least.”

Such a statement surprised Hordak, but it wasn’t unwelcome, petulant as it was. He nodded once at the person, thankful for the sliver of trust.

He released his hold on his blade. Suddenly, a thought had popped into Hordak’s mind that made a mischievous glint alight in his eye. “Tell me… Are you aware that the Horde ships can be disabled?” He asked the crowd nonchalantly, stepping back when Adam began to lead him. “It’s rather simple, actually, with the right tools. I believe there is a gentleman in the back of this lot that might be able to help find it. Certainly, it’s a better use of your time… Wouldn’t you say?”

It was. And, for them, it was a proper repayment for their silence.

***

It would be another day of travel before they reached Fadella. As they crossed the quadrant, the trio spent their time lackadaisically.

It was alarming to see Teela. There truly was a large portion of time that had been cut- possibly several weeks, even. Teela was showing far more than she had before. It was now impossible to hide her pregnancy. She moved with far less speed, sitting rather than standing on most occasions.

Nonetheless, as Adam belted out a ballad to Hordak’s amusement, she sat behind them polishing a rifle. She handled the weapon with intimate knowledge, taking it apart with such precision and speed, it appeared artful. It was a rather stark sight- peculiar, even.

She noticed Hordak had been looking at her once she looked up. Silently, she tilted her head, curious what he was so pointedly looking at her for.

Hordak merely smiled at her. His head turned to Adam. The human was lost in his ballad, choking on laughter at the ridiculous words. Apparently, the song had been warped with time by his generation of Eternians, and it was now more of a joke to yell at the loudest octave possible.

Teela giggled softly at it, shaking her head. Yes, that is who she married. She didn’t regret it.

“Hey, come on, Brother! Sing with me!” Adam cried, pausing only for a moment before belting out another verse.

Hordak scoffed in response. “Never. I do not sing, Adam.”

Adam’s eyes glinted at the challenge now presented to him. “That’s a bold statement for someone that’s about to be our personal Lullaby Machine. The baby will love it!”

Ah, yes… The baby. Hordak grew apprehensive at the word. “I think it will be best if I don’t interact with the child, often… I am a terrifying creature. Surely, I’ll frighten it…” He sighed.

“Adam, Brother can’t leap into being just like us so quickly,” Teela reminded. “If he wants to be patient, let him.”

When Hordak returned his gaze to Teela, it was with thankfulness on his face.

In truth, he had no idea how to feel about the child. It had been a concept only a short while ago- now, however… He’d helped them put together a crib. They painted the small room beside Adam and Teela’s a soft, sunset orange, and decorated it with toys the couple had found.

It was a cabin in a spaceship, but it was a baby’s cabin, nonetheless.

Hordak had bathed in the blood of thousands- living even in the same area as an infant worried him. Horde Prime may have been correct, in a sense; his nature left him at a great disadvantage, now. No matter how nurturing Teela claimed his species was, he knew the truth.

Whatever sense of paternity he felt, it was thoroughly scrubbed from him by Prime. Hordak would poison the child with his evil, eventually.

Or… Even worse. The child could learn to be just like him.

***

Catra had little experience with stars.

She’d never seen them, until two years ago. Entrapta had told her literally ( _very_ literally) everything about them, but they still carried a sense of wonder. The vast number of them was overwhelmingly beautiful.

The ship ran its autopilot function, carrying them through the simulated, purple nighttime straight to Fadella. Hordak sat alone in the captain’s room, staring up at the stars through the main window. His upper half rested on the desk as he watched space drift by, his head resting on his arms.

Beside him, Catra sat on the desk, swapping between watching him and watching space.

He’d been sitting like that for a while, now, deep in his thoughts. Undoubtedly, he was still bothered by what Horde Prime claimed. Catra had almost suspected he’d brushed it off, with how little regard he seemed to give to the message; that had been purposeful, she realized.

Of course it would bother him- how could it not? He couldn’t imagine returning to Horde Prime’s side again. The cruelty his experienced only grew starker in his mind with distance. Horde Prime was _wrong_ ; yet, still, he had an inkling of deep, cosmic fear. Fear that he truly wasn’t safe unless he was with him, and that he could never escape his thousands of eyes.

The door to his left opened. Adam stepped into the room, his expression betraying his mild surprise at the sight of Hordak.

As they locked eyes, however, he smiled warmly and approached. “Having trouble sleeping, again?” He asked softly.

Hordak lifted his head to nod. “Can you blame me?”

A quiet laugh. “Nah. I was coming up to pilot the ship for a bit. You mind keeping me company?”

“Of course not.”

Instead of approaching the pilot’s seat, however, Adam moved closer to Hordak. He didn’t speak for a moment, though he clearly wanted to. He could tell the alien was bothered by something.

He waited until he could bear staying silent no longer. “What are you thinking about?” He questioned. “Prime’s warning?”

Hordak’s ears drooped. “Somewhat,” He admitted. “I worry about how correct he is …” He trailed off, head resting back on his arms. “I have been melted down and shaped to be what Horde Prime wishes of me. What Teela says about my species may be true, but such things are not a guarantee…”

He hid his face, but it was clear where his mind had taken him.

“Brother, you belong here. So what if the Universe doesn’t want you? _I_ want you. Teela wants you. _We_ want you,” Adam reminded. He kneeled and rested his own head on the desk, smiling warmly at Hordak. “You’re our friend. And when the baby is born, they’re going to love you just as much as we do.”

Hordak winced at that, shaking his head. “I doubt that… Any sense of nurturing spirit I have is going to be warped. I will only ruin the child forever. What if they learn to be just as awful as I am?” he lamented.

Adam paused, at that. He appeared to think for a moment, a hand running through his strawberry-blonde hair.

“…When…. We go through things as kids, we carry that pain with us,” he began. “We remember how it felt to be small and weak. We remember how cruel they were to us, and we make a promise to never do that to our children. And, yeah, we’ll screw that up, somehow… But not like they did. And when our kids have kids, they won’t make our mistakes. Every single time, the blow that we receive and give grows softer, and softer… Until there’s no blow at all.”

Adam reached out, his hand brushing over the apple of Hordak’s cheek. “You could be the one that never strikes again, if you wanted to be. You just have to want it.”

Catra flushed lightly; the touch was significant. She felt his warm fingertips over her own face, and felt a deep ache in her chest. Longing she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Which Hordak that was from- past or present- she had no idea.

Hordak smiled gently. He liked the idea of that. “I do want that. I haven’t met them yet, and yet… I believe that I love them.”

“See? You’ve got it. Come on- stop worrying and come sit with me at the pilot’s chair.”

The door opened again. Teela stepped out, dressed in a nightgown. Her hair was in a wild tussle around her head, undone and loose.

She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. When she took notice of her husband and the alien, her face screwed up into a pout. “Oh, no fair. I woke up early to drive on purpose…” She grumbled. “We’re going to need to activate the thing, Brother, before we land. Don’t let me forget…”

Hordak rose from his seat. “I’ll make you tea. That should help you awaken, properly.”

“Thanks, Brother…” Teela shuffled to the pilot’s seat, easily stealing the job from Adam as she huffed. “Not like I could try sleeping… Our little warrior has been kicking nonstop.”

Adam chuckled warmly, now turning to lean against the desk. Across from him, in the main window, a serious of small orbs began to grow larger and larger. Planets, Catra realized. Or, rather, one planet with a series of moons.

Fadella.

“Brother, if you’re right about saving these clones… You’ll be legendary. I don’t care what Prime says. One day, when we return to the galaxy… People will see you with a better view.”

***

Catra finally learned the name of their ship- Adam had let it slip as Hordak and Teela went to fix the cloaking device into it.

Starship Eternia. It was the last of its kind, maintained for hundreds of years by the Royal family.

Until it was stolen by Adam, naturally.

It was fairly large, meant to hold a crew of a least twenty. Catra was certain she could navigate its halls easily, with how often she was taken through them. She’d even begun to recognize, specifically, which room was Hordak’s- there were telltale scratches over the doorknob, and signs that the hinges had been repaired.

The engine room, in contrast to the rest of the ship, was small and cramped. It required both Teela and Hordak to be hunched over. Catra, however, merely had to lower her head when she followed them. The room was full of pipes and mechanical components. Hissing, beeping, and clicking filled the rest of the space. Catra couldn’t even begin to identify the contents of the engine; every piece moved synchronously, though, which told her that the ship was working smoothly.

Teela moved comfortably through the gaps, aware of where to duck and turn. She instructed Hordak to move similarly, until they reached their destination- a gap between the pipes and components, cut into a perfect square.

Hordak had removed his cloak before they descended, revealing just how wiry his frame truly was. Easily, his upper half disappeared into the crevice. While he’d need Teela’s assistance getting out, he, too, was practiced with his movements. While Catra only saw pure darkness, she could see the dim glow of Hordak’s eyes when he turned his head enough. He had no issue with sight; the darkness, to him, was bathed in red the moment light left his unseen pupils.

“You seem fairly comfortable in a ship’s innards,” Teela commented, sitting beside him with a huff. “Did Skeletor actually use you for maintenance?”

Hordak snorted out a laugh. “Fortunately, yes,” he explained as he installed the device. “He’s a different kind of monster than Prime. Far more concerned with the aesthetic of evil rather than anything substantively cruel. He was more interested in doting on me, which was its own type of pure hell. He…”

The alien fell silent, his words bleeding into a little grumble. Teela cocked her head to the side.

“Hm? What was that?”

“…He thought I was _cute_.”

Teela erupted into a fit of laughter at the admittance, covering her mouth as her shoulders shook. She stopped when she heard him growl, the sound echoing in the nook he was partially inside.

“No, no, I’m not laughing at you. It’s just… Yep, that’s Skeletor. He’s a powerful magic user- Arguably, the most powerful in the universe,” Teela mused. “But he’s got the brain of a child.”

Hordak emerged from the hole, a scuff of black now on his cheek. “Quite a kind way of referring to a complete lack of any meaningful intelligence,” he replied, brushing his hands free of space dust.

Skeletor was owed very little respect, in Hordak’s opinion. The lich had lied to Horde Prime about nearly every aspect of who he was, aside from what he literally couldn’t lie about. He was no council member, and he was the mortal enemy of King Randor. While the fall of Eternia was successful, it was horribly messy. It left the Empire to still thrive, which defeated the entire purpose of its destruction.

Prime was incredibly bitter about losing his flawless victory over the Eternian Rebellion. Had Skeletor been able to die, he would have killed him. The lich, however, appeared to have found the last bit of neutral ground left. Hordak was certain he was mucking up whatever was on it, as well.

“Quite a roundabout way of calling him stupid- which he isn’t. We need to take him seriously,” Teela argued, eyes narrowing. “That childish disposition leads to dangerous consequences. He has a vicious grudge on Adam, for all those losses. Before, Adam could handle him with the Sword of Power, but he can’t transform now without damaging his body. We need to be careful.”

At that revelation, Hordak frowned. Adam hadn’t told him that. Now the safety of his companions was pushed to the forefront of his thoughts. “We don’t have to do this, if Skeletor poses that much of a threat to you,” he offered.

She shook her head, a smile coming to her face. “You’ve risked your life for us plenty of times- it’s our turn,” she stated. “Is the cloak on?”

“Ah… Yes. It should be on.” Hordak looked away briefly, still caught off guard by the open displays of affection. They were welcome, though, in the same way water was welcome after years in a desert.

Teela’s smile grew. “Good! Then let’s get back to Adam. I’m sure he’d love to hear all about how cute you were, as a youngling.”

Hordak balked, a look of panic overtaking him. He subtly chased Teela as she hurried out of the engine room, almost knocking himself out on a low-hanging pipe.

“N-No, he actually doesn’t need to hear anything about my days as a youngling. Certainly not what I looked like-!!”

**_BOOM!!_ **

Catra suddenly lost her footing as the ship was rocked violently, alarms blaring mere seconds later.

“Teela, Brother- are you guys okay!?” Came Adam’s voice overhead, tinny as it resonated from a p.a. system. “We’re taking fire!!”

“What!?” Hordak cried out in alarm. “ _How_!? The cloak was activated, we should be invisible-!”

The next blast sent Teela into Hordak’s arms, yelling out as she stumbled off the stairs. Far more sure of his footing, he helped Teela out of the engine room quickly. He took the steps two at a time as he clutched the Eternian woman in his arms, careful of her stomach.

“Shit, that’s not Skeletor’s guys. Who the f-“

Hordak let out a small gasp as the sound of Adam’s voice cut off sharply. He began to feel a low, sinking sensation, a more metaphorical sinking feeling building in his chest.

Teela met his gaze with a look of pure terror.

“We’re dropping,” She said aloud.

She was right, unfortunately; the ship had been hit precisely in both its main thrusters. How they missed the engine entirely was a miracle.

Suddenly, Teela threw herself from Hordak’s arms, running as fast as she could to the main room. “Adam-!!!” She called, disappearing around the corner before Hordak could react.

Hordak blinked, cursing under his breath as he took a single, running step.

“Teela, wait-!”

Immediately, he was ripped from his feet by another blast, his body slamming to the ground.

The ship’s hallway degenerated into a whirring blur of color. The grey metal of the ship, the dirty, yellow sky of Fadella, and the mountains they’d been hiding between melted together as Hordak lost consciousness and sense of direction.

Catra had stumbled to the ground right as Hordak fell, clutching her head as it was plagued by vitiligo. Like all the other times before, a tinny vibrato erupted deep within her ears. This time, though, it felt deeper, as if the sound reverberated through her entire skull.

She could only remind herself that Hordak would live through this- he had to.

Though how he could ever survive a ship crashing, she would need to see to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's been sending me encouraging words. Everytime someone reviews it fuels my desire to finish so keep it up!


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